Laughing Lion's Roar (Self Insert)
by KevinKohl04
Summary: Tytos Lannister was a weak willed man who never learned the word 'NO' and bought his family to ruin and forced his son to become a monster. But what if he wasn't so incompetent? What if someone from our world became father of Tywin Lannister? Read to find out. ( Self Insert)
1. INTRODUCTION

So After seeing a lot great authors write an ASOIAF SI this my take. As this is my first fanfic and English is not my first language I don't expect it to be hugely popular. Criticism is welcomed hope you all like it

The first thing that I realized before opening my eyes was that my bed was unusually soft. The second thing was that I was naked. It also felt as if I had somehow gotten shorter.

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the naked back and light brown hair of my bed partner. Which was shocking because last thing I remember was going to sleep in my bed alone.

The room which was likely hers looked straight out of some medieval show with candles and all that.

And Then came the headache and memories.

It was so painful that I fell out of bed. It was like someone was bashing my head from inside out.

I remembered things that I had never even done. I remembered the parents that were not mine, the brothers whom I didn't know. The people that i never met. The names that I knew from a book that I read a few years ago.

After rolling on the floor naked while clutching my head and groaning loudly for what seemed like an eternity but was just a minute, the headache stopped.

I stared at the ceiling blankly while taking deep breathes. I was confused. I did not even know what to think. It is dream. It has to be a dream. There is no other explanation. Was all I could think.

Apparently my actions did not go unnoticed and caused the other occupant of the room to wake up.

"M…. My Lord are you okay?" asked the woman, no not woman, girl she is no older than 15, that I (no not I) was married to last night asked in a small voice. She seemed nervous, unsure what to do. If I was in her place I would be the same.

I stared at her for moment before getting up and saying, " Ah…. Of course my lady. Nothing to worry about, Just a nightmare." I tried to smile but it likely came out as a grimace.

The good thing was that she was too busy blushing at the sight of my naked body and trying to look away to notice.

I quickly grabbed the only piece of men's clothing I could find which was a pair of black breeches and a crimson tunic and wore them.

I tried smiling again as I spoke, "Why don't you go back to sleep my lady. Its too early. Also if you could excuse me I have to visit privy."

She nodded still unsure.

I walked out of the room as fast as it was decently possible. It was early in the morning and only a few of the castle staff were awake at this time.

I made my way to the nearest balcony. The view further confirmed my suspicions. A part of me had grown up seeing this view. The ships sailing the sea flying 'my family' banner. I could easily spot the city which was situated near the castle. I tried pinching myself to see if I would wake up. I even thought about jumping from the balcony before the thought was vanished from my mind.

I was able to make to privy before having my breakdown. I wanted to shout, to scream, to rage.

God why did it have to happen to me?

While I had no family and very few friends it still hurt.

I cried because in my heart that this was no dream. That I had no chance returning to my world. It was just my luck to get stuck in this medieval hell called Westeros.

I don't know how long I was in there but it seemed like a long time. I carefully washed my face. I didn't want castle staff gossiping about how I spent time in privy crying the morning after my wedding.

More of the castle staff were awake now. It was evident that everyone was preparing for supper.

When I reached my chamber I saw my newlywed wife(wasn't that a strange thing) getting ready.

Now that I noticed carefully her hair were actually coppery brown. I cleared my throat trying to get her attention which worked.

She immediately looked towards me. Her eyes were a lovely shade of honey brown. She was no great beauty. She actually looked the girl next door who will one day grow into that natural beauty.

I was a lot calmer now. The two personalities in my body were merging. The native personality was telling me to make the best of this situation. And my original was supporting it still sulking.

I tried my best charming smile which was easier in my new body.

" I apologize for this morning my lady. I just had a nightmare. I hope you forgive me for my mistake."

She nodded shyly and softly spoke, " It's fine, my lord."

"Well then, would you honor me by allowing me to escort you to supper, after I take bath of course." I asked her.

She just nodded.

I then took my bath as fast as I could. Wore the luxurious clothes set out for me and accompanied my new wife to breakfast.

So that's how my life as Tytos Lannister began.

**Yes chapters are short, I will try to write them bigger but for now 1 to 1.5k is my limit**


	2. First Day

By the time we reached the main hall it was nearly full. It was like all things Lannister's owned grand and meant to show their wealth and prestige. The hall was filled with major Lords of Westerlands. All of whom attended the wedding of heir of Casterly Rock to daughter of Castamare.

And my wedding to Jeyne Marbrand.

I went to sit with my wife's family at the table on high dias. Jeyne sat beside her mother, lady Janna Marbrand neé Banefort and I sat beside her father lord Alyn who nodded at me.

I remembered from Tytos' memories that he did not like me much. He thought me too weak willed for his only and beloved daughter.

I was about to begin my break fast when-

"Running a little late, aren't we little brother?" spoke my elder brother Tion Lannister, the heir to Casterly Rock.

Tion is what I always thought Jaime would look like tall, handsome, muscular with curly golden hair and cat like green eyes.

Sitting on his right was Ellyn Reyne now Lannister. I could understand why both Tion and his twin Tywald were so enamored with her. Blonde hair, blue eyes on a heart shaped face with curves of a woman and wearing a dress meant to show them. She would likely have been a supermodel in my world.

Sitting on Tion's left was Rogar Reyne the Lord of Castamare and his brother Reynard Reyne. The both had red hair and blue eyes. They were both handsome.

"Did you disappoint your wife too much last night and spent the morning trying to tell her you could do better?" Tion spoke causing the Reyne's beside him to laugh.

Lord Alyn looked ready to fight and Jeyne looked downwards.

I grimaced. According to memories last night was not too pleasant for her as she lost her maidenhead.

I took her hand in my hand and squeezed it gently before replying in my most polite voice, "of course not brother."

Apparently disappointed by my reaction, he turned his attention towards his wife.

It was no wonder Tytos turned out like he did with his childhood.

He was a third son. There were no large chunks of land unoccupied in Westerlands so it was likely he would spend rest of his life in Casterly Rock if his brothers did not kick him out.

Tytos was starved for attention since his childhood. His father was too busy running Westerlands and he only saw him during meals. Whatever free time his father had was spent with twins grooming them for their future.

The twins favourite past time was bullying Tytos. They made fun of him always, mocking him. The most important encounter was when Tytos started squiring for one of his father's household Knight. During Tytos' first day at training yard both of twins ganged up on him and beat him bloody. Tytos spent next few days under maester's care.

The only one who was kind to him was his mother lady Rohanne Webber. She always cared for him and often spent whatever free time she had with him.

After her disappearance things turned worse for Tytos. His father outright ignored him while the twins bullying got worse without their mother holding them back.

Tytos in a nutshell just wanted people to like him. He always tried to please his brothers and father whenever he could in hoping they would start seeing him as family and treat him better.

But I was not Tytos at least not fully.

After the breakfast I let Jeyne stay with her family as they would be departing later today.

I spent sometime wandering around the halls of Casterly Rock.

By luck I saw the person I wanted to talk to at the training yard observing the guards train.

" May I have a moment of your time, Ser?" I asked politely.

" What da ya want, lad?" the man replied in his rough voice without even bothering to look at me.

Seeing no other way I simply spoke, " I want you to train me."

That got his attention and he turned towards me with raised eyebrows letting me get a good look of him.

Compared to my now five foot eight frame, Ser Rupert Crakehall at six foot four was a literal giant. He had long grey hair with a well trimmed grey beard and a body full of muscle. On his back was a two handed greatsword which could easily cut me in half.

A veteran of third Blackfyre Rebellion, Ser Rupert is said to have fought beside King Maekar I and saved my father Lord Gerold's life during the war. While the man held no official position in Castle, it was well known that he is my father's right hand man.

"Why?" the old man asked.

" I suck at fighting. You are the only one I know might turn me into a decent fighter and I realized thatIn our world if a man can't protect himself, he can't protect his family and I don't want anyone harming my family."

" Just spending one night with your pretty little thing of a wife has made you braver Tytos. Perhaps all you needed to be a man was a woman's touch." He said before laughing uproariously.

He calmed down a minute later and soon had a sadistic smile on his face which I would remember till the end of my day's.

"oh… We are going to have so much fun little one."

I felt a chill run through my spine as I realized I might have made a big mistake.

A/N:- So this is the second chapter. Hope you all like it.


	3. Learning to live again

Left. Right. Right. Back foot. Front foot. Block. Dodge. Dodge. Block. Oh shit!

Were my thoughts as I fell on my butt again. It has been a month and Apparently I was right asking Ser Rupert to train me was a big mistake. The giant man seems to take some kind of perverse joy in my suffering.

" You have gotten a lot better since we started." The old man said.

" You still beat me to the ground everyday."

" yeah well now you at least know how to hold a sword."

And wasn't that hard. After the incident with twins Tytos never used a weapon again. So the first few days had been embarrassing. While I was by no means unhealthy before I was also not fit. The continuous training has seen me grow muscles. I have even grown by an inch in height.

"Well then We will meet again tomorrow." Was all the old man said before leaving to do whatever he did.

During the past month my schedule has been more or less settled.

I would wake up early before dawn in order to get ready and meet Ser Rupert in one of less visited training yard(yes there are several. Casterly Rock is huge. Even with Tytos memories I sometimes get lost.)who would have me go through some exercise and then continue to beat me to the ground till afternoon leaving my body filled with bruises. I have actually visited the maestar more in last than in all my life.

As I was contemplating my thoughts a little blonde missile crashed into me.

"Wow, Ser Rupert was so great he beat you so easily. Do you think I could be like him one day. He was like this.." and my six year old brother Jason Lannister tried his best to imitate the moves that he had seen.

Even before I merged with Tytos, he and Jason had a special relationship. For Jason who was raised by servants Tytos was the only family member who he saw the most when he came to play with him every other day. And for Tytos little Jason was the only one who didn't judge him and accepted him.

I easily picked up my brother and carried him even as tried and failed to get out of my grip. The Rock has changed a lot in last month.

Lord Gerold Lannister now seldom leave his Chambers. I have not seen him since my wedding. While he still takes all the important decisions he has left the day to day running of Castle to Tion and his wife.

Both of them seemed to enjoy their new role. Tion holding the court every other day with his wife beside him.

Ellyn threw balls and functions nearly every day. Her brother Reynard has now became a constant resident of the Rock, always whispering something in her ear. Her elder brother Rogar has already came to visit her twice. And everytime he left some of his men behind. It was easy to see that many minor positions in the castle have been given to Reynes and those loyal to them.

After getting washed up and leaving Jason in the care of the irate maids whose care he had previously escaped from, I made my way to Steward's office. I was by no means an engineer in my previous world, I had seen some videos on the net about water Mills and printing press. But the subject I was studying was commerce.

So I have been trying to make myself by helping castle's current steward Martyn Lanett around the castle.

Martyn was like half of Westerlanders was a blonde haired and green eyed man. He has been a steward since before Tytos was born.

I nodded at him as I entered his office.

" You don't have to come and help me everyday lad, now that 'her royal highness' doesn't bother me I can handle my work easily."

" I don't mind Martyn, I actually enjoy helping you." I actually didn't. It allowed me to put the knowledge I had to use. Reminding me that my other life was not a dream, that I was not mad.

As for 'her royal highness' business Casterly Rock apparently runs on a tight budget.

Shocking, I know. But Lannisters have not maintained their position as the richest house in Westeros by being careless spenders.

Well, someone forgot to tell my brother's wife that. When she planned a particularly extravagant ball, Martyn refused to give her money for spending. She whined a bit, threatened him and when that didn't work, went to snitch to her husband.

My brother Tion then proceeded to remove Martyn from his office and named Reynard Reyne as the new Steward. The man seemed happy at his new position. At least for the whole afternoon he held it.

In the evening my brother was summoned to my father's chamber and did not came back till dinner time.

At dinner he apologized to Martyn and requested him to take his position again, which the man happily did, in front of everyone in the castle. By the end Tion's face was red, from embarrassment or anger I didn't know.

I actually avoided both Tion and Ellyn whenever I could. Even then during dinnertime Tion tries his best to embarrass me.

They both actually acted like I always thought Jaime and Cersei in the books did. Arrogant, vain, entitled and believing themselves to be better than everyone.

I would pay to see the look on Tywin's face when he realize his beloved daughter actually behave the same way as the woman who nearly destroyed his house and who he hated.

And wasn't Tywin another unopened can of worms?

After living in this world for just a month I could understand why Tywin became what he was. But that doesn't mean I liked it.

While I was getting used to violence in this world slowly but I don't think I would ever be okay with murder of children or rape.

Whatever, my existence might have butterflied Tywin away who knows. And it's not like I plan to be Lord of Casterly Rock. I don't to became a player. With too much power cames too many responsibilities.

My current plan was making sure Tion survives the fourth blackfyre Rebellion. The Tytos part of me didn't want anything to happen to his brother even if said brother is dick. The other part of me thought if I saved Tion's life he might treat me a little better.

And if he didn't start me treating better my best bet was impressing my father in law so that he would allow me to live in his castle.

Or if Papa Gerold isn't too much a dick he might leave me a respectable sum after his death.

Respectable sum for Lannisters is enough that next 2 generations of my family can live luxuriously and not worry about money.

And we'll cross that bridge later.

I usually spent my evenings with Jeyne. Once you get past her shy exterior, she is actually very intelligent and quick witted and quite fun to be around.

We still have not done the deed since our wedding night as I was squeamish to do it with a 15 year old even if I myself was one. I explained to Jeyne about how I wanted to get to know her better and luckily she bought that.

Everything was going alright in my life.

Of course this being Westros things had to go wrong at some point.


	4. Westeros Sucks

I should have known that in Westeros nothing goes according to plan.

As I stood in training yard in padded armor with a blunted sword in my hand and looked towards my opponent. I was sure of one thing.

WESTEROS SUCKS.

(A few hours before)

The particular problem began when I was coming from yet another session of getting my butt kicked session with Ser Rupert.

On my way to freshen up I saw Ellyn and her ladies in waiting surrounding someone. Must be another unfortunate soul who Ellyn was bullying. As much as I did not like bullying, this was actually a regular occurrence. Even if I did intervene it would have turned out worse for victim as Tion and by extension Ellyn were less than fond of me.

But as I was leaving something Ellyn said stopped me dead on my tracks.

"Really you should know better Jeyne."

And now that I looked carefully right at the Centre of the group was my wife.

She was looking downwards and she was clutching her gown so tightly that her knuckles had turned white..

"But perhaps its not your fault after all if I was married to a disappointment like Tytos, I wouldn't want to dress up either. Not that I could ever be with someone like him." Ellyn said causing the ladies beside her to laugh.

At this Jeyne got an angry look on her face. So I decided to intervene before she said something that she might regret.

" Ah Jeyne here you are. I was searching for you." As soon as she saw me she got a happy look on her face.

We had really gotten closer in the last month. I gently took her arm and began leading her away trying to ignore Ellyn but alas it was not to be.

" Oh Tytos I didn't see you." Ellyn said loudly forcing me to look her way as she continued.

"I was just telling Jeyne how bad it looks on her if she wears these plain clothes. But maybe she should get used to it after all a disappointment like you could never provide her a good life."

At this something snapped inside of me. For one whole month whenever Ellyn and Tion saw me they insulted and belittled me without care. I don't know how Tytos tolerated it.

But I have had enough.

"Well do forgive Jeyne, my lady. Not all of us can change clothes like you change men."

At those words there was utter silence.

Ellyn's face became red in rage and she snarled, " How dare you talk to me, the Lady of Casterly Rock like that. Do you-"

" You are not the lady of the Rock, you are just wife of the heir while I am the son of the Lord."

"You will regret this" was all she said before storming away.

As I led Jeyne away she gently said, "You didn't have to do that."

"I didn't but I wanted to."

"Thank you." She said as she gave me a smile.

I led her to one of many balconies in Castle where we had lunch with pleasant conversation but unfortunately we were interrupted.

"How dare you call my wife a whore, you runt." Shouted my brother Tion banging his hand on the table as soon as he entered with Reyne brothers who were both snarling at me.

"Perhaps I should teach you a lesson on how to respect your elders." He said to me.

As I had said before I've had enough so I got up and looked directly in his eyes and said, "Why don't you then."

……. Which I might not have been a good idea. Tion agreed to a duel. He stood in front of me in his casual clothes as according to him he did not need an armor to teach me a lesson.

As the master of arms signaled us to start I realized I might have overestimated myself.

I was indeed training hard with Ser Rupert but it was still one month. Tion had simply more experience.

He was stronger, faster and had better technique as I was immediately put on defensive. It took him only few minute but I was easily down.

"You are no lion, you understand. You are worthless. You should be the one who should be dead." As Tion was ranting and mocking me, I realized that he had gotten too close and left himself open. So I took my chance-

And kicked him hard between his legs.

He screamed in agony. I got up as fast as I could and hit his stomach with the pommel of the sword.

I put all my strength in my next punch and I knocked him out.

Just like that I won.

There was pin drop silence.

Till Rogar Reyne screamed in fury, took one of the guard's sword and started charging towards me. And I knew I had no chance. I was wounded and only able to beat Tion by cheap tricks and Red lion of Castamare was way better than Tion.

But luckily someone stopped him. That someone being Ser Rupert Crakehall.

"Why are you stopping me. Didn't you see him you use cowardly tricks to harm your lord's heir." The Reyne asked in outrage.

" Aye but that was a family matter and you my lord are no Lannister." Ser Rupert replied calmly.

The Reyne then looked around to realize that all the Lannister guardsmen had their

weapons pointed at him.

"Now why don't you take Tion away." the old man said to the young lord who did what was asked of him reluctantly.

Once they left Ser Rupert turned towards me and said, "Kneel"

I was confused and it must have showed on my face because a moment later he asked, "You don't want to be knighted."

I was shocked.

"You did see how I won right?"

The man just grinned and said, "In war it wouldn't matter how you kill a man what would matter is if you kill him or not. Now kneel."

So I knelt.

"In the name of the Warrior I charge you to be brave. In the name of the Father I charge you to be just. In the name of the Mother I charge you to defend the young and innocent. In the name of the Maid I charge you to protect all women.

Rise Ser Tytos Lannister."

Well at least something good happened today.

Some time I was sitting in maestar's chamber with him tending my wounds.

Jeyne who hadn't left my side since the duel spoke softly, "Perhaps we should visit my family and stay with them for some time."

She looked at me imploringly. At first I was confused. And then it hit. I had just embarrassed Tion in front of the castle. He would want revenge and this time there would be no one to save me.

The guards and Ser Rupert only intervened when Reyne was about to attack me. They were perfectly okay with Tion beating the shit out of me.

The only one who could save me was my father who I had not seen in a month and likely wouldn't care.

"Perhaps you are right. Why don't you write a letter to your father warning him of our visit."

It appears Jeyne had same worries as the moment I said those words she happily nodded and wrote the letter, telling the maestar to send it to Ashemark.

But even that was not the end of the day.

As Jeyne and I were getting ready for the bed. There was knock on the door.

I opened it to find a guardsman standing there. He gave me the message that he held in his hands before leaving.

Apparently my father had summoned me to his Chambers.

I have said it before and I will say it again.

WESTEROS SUCKS.

A/N:- This chapter did not turn out as I intended it to. This is my third draft and I still don't like. I think the fight scene might be disappointing. Apparently seeing something and then trying to convey it in words is harder than it seems

Any suggestions to improve this chapter would be welcome. Hope you like it. Thanks for reading.


	5. Golden Lion of Lannister

The room I was currently in was richly furbished with crimson banners proudly displaying the golden lion of Lannister's sprawling all around the Chambers.

The personal Chambers of Lord of Casterly Rock was meant to show the power and wealth of house Lannister and it certainly did.

Sitting behind the desk in front of me was Gerold Lannister, the current Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of West. He was in his early fifties with wrinkles beginning to form on his face. There were specks of grey in the golden blonde hair. Even sitting I could easily tell he was taller than me. Maybe around six feet. His hard green eyes were staring at me without an ounce of emotion.

I resisted the urge to fidget.

I remember reading in the books that Tywin had this aura of authority around him, daring someone to challenge him.

I did not understand it then.

But I certainly did now.

After staring at me for literally more than ten minutes or more my father finally leaned back in his chair and sighed.

"Rupert was right." He said in his deep voice. "Letting twins continue bullying you was indeed a bad idea. I should have stopped them."

"Why didn't you." The words left my mouth before my mind even registered them

"Because you are a disappointment." It actually hurt the way he said it so casually. The Tytos part of me was crying on the inside.

" Your brothers were smarter, stronger and better than you in every way while you are just a weak willed child wanting to please everyone and afraid to make decisions. I had hoped that one day you might stand up against your brothers. Even six year old Jason was more deserving of Lannister name than you." He continued.

" Or at least you were a disappointment . Crying in the privy, the morning after your wedding has somehow changed you."

I was shocked. How could he know that. I thought I was discreet.

He narrowed his eyes and said, "Yes I know. This is my castle boy. I was born here and have been ruling it for more than 20 years. I know everything that happen in these walls."

I stayed quiet because I didn't know what to say.

"I don't know what caused you to grow a spine and finally show your teeth. Perhaps it's your wife or perhaps it's something else, I don not care."

" You are finally showing yourself worthy of Lannister name and while I would have preferred if you sorted your feud with your brother in private it was better the way it happened."

"How was it better?" I asked confusedly which caused him to glare at me like I was the most stupid person he had ever seen.

" Because it finally opened my eyes. I had thought the trouble with Martyn was a one time incident but I was wrong. Your brother has been letting his wife lead him around by collar. Casterly Rock is slowly being filled up with Reynes and those related to them. I taught him better than that." He stopped talking and took a deep breath.

"Maestar Terrick has told me about the letter your wife sent to her family. I will also send a letter to Ashemark. The Marbrands will accommodate you as long as you wish while I reteach your brother some lessons." He said and went back to looking at the papers on his desk.

Realizing that it was my cue to leave I quickly made my way to the door but my father's voice stopped me, " And I would advise you to be careful around your wife's family. Alyn Marbrand is not someone you should underestimate."

I stood there for a few seconds to see if he had something else to say but apparently he didn't.

As I was making my way my way towards my rooms I understood whyust Lannisters were awful human beings. They all had shitty parents.

(SCENE BREAK)

As his son finally left his Chambers Gerold Lannister relaxed, sinking into his chair as he truly felt his age.

"You were too hard on him." Came the voice of his oldest friend who had been till now in the adjacent room listening to the conversation between his son and him. " He probably hates you now."

"It's better he hates me and use that hate to grow up. You know that calling Ellyn Reyne a whore-"

"Even if it's true." Rupert interrupted him cheekily.

" Even if its true was a mistake. Its good thing that Rogar Reyne is not smarter because if he was, he could have asked for trial by combat and I couldn't have done anything. And what were you thinking letting my son's fight each other like that you should have stopped them. And Knighting Tytos what made you do that? " He glared towards the man.

The shameless man had the gall to smile as he said, " I wanted to see how Tytos held himself. And you have say he handled himself well. Used the oldest trick in book."

Of course what else could he expect from his right hand man?

"As for Knighting him, in one month he has gone from not knowing how to hold a sword to a decent swordsman, if he keeps it up he could easily be better than most knights in few months and we both know Marbrand would toughen up the boy if only for his own benefit. And men follow a Knight more easily, we both know what's coming and Tion is too much of a hothead. He is gonna need someone to hold him back."

Rupert's face then grew unusually serious as he said, "You should have told him the truth."

At this Gerold felt white hot rage burning through him. He punched the table hard as he stood up and growled, " The truth. You want me tell him the truth. The truth about how I didn't know he was being bullied till last year because I was too busy searching for his mother or that I avoided him because he reminds me of his most likely dead mother." He shouted before slumping back into chair taking deep breath as all the energy seemed to leave him.

He still loved Rohanne even if she might not have loved him. She was his everything. When she had disappeared his world had shattered. He had sent men to all of the Westeros from Winter fell to Sunspear searching for her. Even to the Free cities. He had personally searched Westerlands, parts of Riverlands and Reach in hope of finding her. But in his heart he knew she was most likely dead. She might not have loved him but she loved their children, she could not abandon them.

Searching for what happened to his wife and ruling Westerlands took so much of his time that he ignored his children. He tried to console himself by telling himself that he would give them all his time once he found their mother.

Only to found out that in his absence Tywald and Tion had grown arrogant and entitled. While Tytos, sweet, gentle and kind Tytos, Rohanne's favorite had became weak willed and desperate to please others. He did not even know anything about Jason.

He had hoped Tion would be ready to rule so that he could finally end his life and join Rohanne. But it wasn't meant to be.

"What do you want to do about Reynes." Rupert asked after his friend had calmed down.

Gerold's eyes blazed with fury at the mention of Reynes.

"Kick them all out. Ellyn's brothers are no longer welcome at Casterly Rock. After all there can only be one lion in a pride."


	6. In Laws and Father issues

Six Months.

It had been six months since Jeyne and I had left Casterly Rock to arrive at Ashemark, the seat of House Marbrand.

The reception we received when we arrived at Ashemark was particularly warm. Lord Alyn, Jeyne's father greeted me by slapping my back and telling me how he was wrong about me. 'That I did indeed have balls.' His words not mine.

Apparently rumors had spread about my fight with Tion. While the how I defeated my brother was left unclear. The most consistent gossip ( and closest to truth) was that Tion and I had a fight which led to me defeating him in single combat.

This combined with Jeyne's glowing recommendation has led to Alyn warming up to me so much that he had actually started teaching me how to rule lands and make judgements with his son and heir Donnel.

And all this time my father's warning about the Marbrands was still on the back of my head.

It took me two months and countless hours in the library to find out what my father meant.

Marbrands were not the descendants of first men Kings like Westerlings and Reynes nor did they descend from Andal warlords like Tarbecks and Leffords. Their house was 1800 years old which was not much by Westerosi standards.

For most of their history Marbrands were a middling house with middling influence. The only famous member of House Marbrand in recent times was Lorent Marbrand, a member of King Viserys I Kingsguard and Rhaenyra's Queens guard.

In fact my marriage to Jeyne was the first marriage between Lannisters and Marbrands since the conquest.

The keyword being were.

Due to their decline in recent times Tarbecks and Westerlings were forced to sell large chunk of their lands to deal with their financial woes. Most of these lands were bought by Lord Alyn.

The Marbrands also are currently in alliance with Baneforts through Jeyne's mother, with Plumms and Brooms through Lord Alyn's sisters and with Stackspears due to betrothal of Donnel, Lord Alyn's son to Lord Stackspear's daughter. Making them effectively the strongest house in northern part of Westerlands with only Reynes as a competition.

All this happened in last 30 years.

No wonder my father was wary of Lord Marbrand.

It also made me realize my marriage to Jeyne was a double edged sword for Lord Alyn.

On one hand my father was honoring Lord Marbrand by marrying me to his daughter.

On the other hand I was a second son ( third son during most of our Betrothal) destined to spend rest of his life in Casterly Rock making Jeyne effectively a hostage.

It also made realize that maybe the only reason my father had allowed us to leave Casterly Rock was for Jeyne's safety.

I could easily see Lord Alyn going to war if something happens to Jeyne. The man doted on his only daughter.

Well, it was good thing for me.

Due to me defeating my brother becoming public information I had to work harder to upheld my new reputation.

I spent most of my time either with Lord Alyn, in training ground with knights or hunting bandits in order to gain more experience.

Which was good thing because a raven had just come from Casterly Rock.

Daemon Blackfyre III was coming to invade. And my father had requested my presence.

(SCENE BREAK)

I arrived at Casterly Rock with a thousand men from Marbrands, Baneforts and Stackspears. Lord Marbrand was apparently not going to join us and had instead sent Donnel in his stead.

And after spending few day in Rock, I realized most of the Lords had done the same. Of Six Thousand men gathered under the shadow of Casterly Rock, majority were led either by young Lords, heirs or second sons.

Ser Rupert who had been spending quite sometime with me telling me all about war had been the one to tell me why so many Lords had done this.

" This Rebellion is joke lad." The old man had told me. Seeing my raised eyebrows, he further explained, " Did you even know that the current Blackfyre was named Daemon? I certainly didn't nor did the most of Lords."

" Most of the Blackfyre supporters have lost all their power and influence. After third Rebellion and Peake uprising, a lot of people have given up on Blackfyre cause."

" To be truthful King Aegon doesn't need our men. He can easily defeat Blackfyre with Storm Lords and Crownlanders. Most of the Lords are treating this as an opportunity to teach their sons and heirs about true war and gain experience."

And I agreed.

The only reason my father was sending men to fight was because he was a big supporter of King Aegon. He was the one along with Lyonel Baratheon who had persuaded most of the Lords to choose the King Aegon during Great Council

King Aegon had even offered to name my father the Hand, but my father had refused.

Lord Flement Brax, my father's first cousin was currently Master of Laws in King Aegon's small Council.

(SCENE BREAK)

The hall was filled with laughs and stench of wine.

We were meant to start marching towards Kings Landing tomorrow so my father had decided to throw a departure feast.

I was sitting with Marbrands and Baneforts like I often did since I arrived back at Casterly Rock.

My eyes roamed the hall as everywhere men were laughing and enjoying themselves. Just on other side of my table 15 year old Sumner Crakehall who looked older than me was arm wrestling a member of House Brax.

My father was sitting on the table at high dias with Ser Rupert on his right and Tion on his left.

My eyes met Ellyn's who was sitting on Tion's left and she glared at me hatefully. I couldn't help but smile cheekily at her which caused her glare to increase if it could.

Not that it bothered me. I had avoided being in same room as Tion and Ellyn since my arrival. And neither of them had tried to confront me or anything.

There was also decrease of Reyne men in the Rock. The only Reyne men I had seen were Ellyn's guards.

The common Lannister soldiers also seem to respect me more always greeting me either with a 'milord' or slight bow of their head.

My father stood up from his chair causing the hall to quieten down.

" The Blackfyre's have again come to bloody our lands for their own greed and lust for power with foreign army at their back. They have come to plunder our towns rape our woman and kill our children. Will we let them?" he questioned loudly at end to which he received a resounding "No".

" Tomorrow the sons of Westerlands march for their rightful King to send these pretender and foreign invaders back where they came from." He said causing the hall to erupt in cheers but my father was not finished.

"With my eldest son and heir Tion in command." Tion got up his chest puffing up and with a smile on his face. His lady wife clapping and beaming beside him.

But it was my father's next words which shocked me.

"And my other son Tytos as his second in command." The Marbrand and Banefort men beside me started cheering even loudly.

I couldn't do anything other than stand up and smile awkwardly.

Gods, I hate you too dad


	7. Cleaning the Coast

The men had no chance.

They did not know we were coming.

We had made sure of that, killing and hunting each one of their scouts.

We descended upon them at dawn. Hundreds upon hundreds of armored riders pointing their lances and riding hard towards the camp.

Dozens of banner were hoisted and the knights rode out.

The three-headed red dragon of House Targaryen, the Seahorse of house Velaryon, the black and yellow banner of House Darklyn, the golden lion of House Lannister, burning tree of House Marbrand, the peacock of House Serrett and several others.

The First wave easily reached the center of the enemy camp easily killing anyone who tried to stop them.

The unfortunate men had tried to put up some resistance but the second wave destroyed any of their hope of winning.

Men trying to run away were cut down mercilessly, sleeping men were butchered, their corpses looted.

It was a massacre.

The smell of blood, gore, and shit filled the camp later.

This was a true battle.

It was nauseating.

It took all my willpower to not throw up. I had slowly gotten used to the casual violence in this the world. I had killed people in this world before. Some bandits near Ashemark. They had haunted my dreams for a long time.

But I had gotten used to it. Or at least I thought I had.

This was on whole another level.

I saw a man trembling on the ground. He had a lance stuck in his chest and his eyes barely had any light left in them.

Even if I could get him any medical help in time, he likely wouldn't survive. So I took out my sword and ended his pain.

This was a third such camp we had attacked and like all others destroyed.

Daemon Blackfyre had left Tyrosh with sixteen thousand men. Ten thousand from the Golden Company and six thousand from various other sellsword companies.

Only twelve thousand had landed with him at Massey's hook. Some were lost during the voyage, others killed when the Royal fleet had attacked them during their travel while some like this had landed far away.

I still don't know what was my father thinking when he made me Tion's second in command when I was likely the last person who Tion would listen to.

So I made sure whenever I needed to advice him. I did it in front of other Lords.

When Tion wanted to march hard and fast towards King's Landing. I publicly advised against it stating the issue of supplies while also reminding him how Blackfyre had just landed.

King Aegon had called banners the moment he heard of Daemon's departure from Tyrosh so there was no particular hurry.

As I was supported by Marbrands, Baneforts and surprisingly Brax, Lydden, and Serretts Tion had to agree with me.

Didn't mean he liked it.

So when he got the chance to get rid of me specifically when we were a day away from King's Landing and a message came from King asking Tion to send half of his cavalry to join the men under Ser Duncan, he couldn't have given me men any faster.

With my thousand horse, Ser Duncan had around twenty-five hundred men under his command. Our objective was to ride along the coast and look for these camps and destroy them.

The Yronwoods, Peakes and some minor Riverlords were making some trouble but apparently it was upto their respective Lord Paramounts to deal with them.

Some landed knights had also joined Blackfyre's cause from Crownlands but they could hardly gather a thousand men so they would be dealt with in due time.

" Is everything alright, my lord?" asked my unlikely shadow.

Ser Aubrey Serrett, the fifteen year old heir of Silverhill had pale skin with brown hair and brown eyes. His face was made up of stone. He literally showed no expression on his face. Even when he got injured during one of these attacks, he didn't show anything on his face. That combined with the detached tone he used while speaking creeped people out.

Which might be the reason Tion named him my sworn shield.

He actually reminded me of Roose Bolton from the books in the beginning.

Well the jokes on Tion, because it turned out Aubrey was quite good with sword, Jaime Lannister good. He was recently knighted. I had seen him beat two experienced Knights without breaking a sweat.

Which is why I always kept him close during the battles. I knew my limits.

Also after talking with his father I found out that he had begun repressing his emotions from a young age after watching his mother die in front him due to illness.

I actually pitied the kid.

" Nothing wrong, kid. Do you need something?" I had taken to teasing the kid.

He stared at me for a moment before softly speaking, " Ser Duncan has requested your presence."

"Well, then what are you waiting for? Lead the way."

After walking for a while we arrived at a small hill away from camp where Ser Duncan was standing.

Clad in a simple full plate armor with a white cloak on his back. Ser Duncan was probably the biggest man I had seen with his nearly seven foot height. He was an average looking man with healthy tan skin and brown hair.

He was actually just a Kingsguard right now. The current Lord Commander of Kingsguard was a Ser Willis Stokeworth.

But he was apparently too old to fight and stayed in Kings Landing.

Whenever I stood in front of him, I always felt like a child.

His armor was similar to mine but I was sure mine was definitely more expensive. I had chosen the lightest, most protective armor I could find. I had no intention of dying anytime soon.

The only difference between mine and Ser Duncan's armor was the crimson cloth displaying golden lion of House Lannister that hid my breastplate. Which I thought was a lot better than crimson monstrosity I had seen Tion wear. His armor reminded me of those decorative suits back in my world.

And while I knew a good steel plate armor wouldn't weigh much, I doubted that those dozen lions made out of gold which were on Tion's armor didn't add any weight.

"A messenger came from the king. The main army had crossed the Wendwater." Ser Duncan tells.

"How?" I questioned.

I knew wendwater river became shallower and narrowed the further inland it went.

But last I heard Blackfyre's held wendwater Bridge. They would have known if some ten thousand were crossing the river and not attacking them would be a folly.

"His grace marched the host to the mouth of Wendwater where they used barges and rafts to cross the river." Ser Duncan answered my query.

" Lord Lyonel Baratheon is also marching his host north. His grace and Lord baratheon means to fight Daemon Blackfyre at wendwater Bridge with his grace attacking from East and Lord Baratheon attacking from west." He explained to me.

"Tell your men to get ready. We leave tomorrow and ride hard and fast to join the main host." He commanded and I bowed my head slightly before leaving to give orders to my men.

All the while I was thinking how many more deaths and bloodshed would I have see at the next battle?


	8. Battle of Wendwater Bridge

There were no clouds in the sky.

There was faint chirping of the birds.

The Sun had just risen up

It seemed like a beautiful day.

A pity that so many people will die today. I thought as I looked around to see men getting in position to face the army on the opposite side of the field.

Ser Duncan and I had joined the main host around four days ago and we had reached Wendwater Bridge yesterday.

There was a parley between the King and Blackfyres but I was too low on ladder to present during that.

The Blackfyre had around thirteen thousand men. While the Crown had fourteen thousand men not counting Lyonel Baratheon's host which was just a few hours away on the other side of narrow and shallow river.

The plan was fairly simple Ser Duncan would lead the right, consisting a thousand horse which would also act as a vanguard leaving a gap.

King Aegon and his sons would command the center with five hundred heavy horse and rest of the infantry. With a way to outflank the center and potentially kill the King and two of his sons was too good a chance for Blackfyres.

Once they invest into the gap, the Baratheon forces would cross the river and attack them from rear and their flank with King Aegon's forces on their front.

A textbook example of Hammer and Anvil.

Tion was in command of left with three thousand cavalry. Our purpose was to hold our flank and try to outflank Blackfyres if we could. And kill as many men as we could when they began escaping.

Well, hope nothing goes wrong.

God, I jinxed myself. Didn't I?

Everything was going according to plan. While Blackfyres still didn't commit to the gap left by Ser Duncan, they seemed desperate enough to do it.

You know those amazing fight scenes with whole army marching to meet the enemy.

Yeah those didn't happen in real life. Most of the fighting takes place in vanguard with other parts of army moving around or waiting for a weakness to appear in enemy army.

But like I said everything was going good. Too good.

So of course something bad had to happen.

"God's what are they doing?" came the horrified voice of Lord Roland Lydden, the young Lord of Deep den beside me.

As I looked towards where he was pointing, I too felt horror creep up my face.

'They' were perhaps around half a thousand Reyne and Lannister man leaving our force to engage the enemy right flank led my brother Tion.

' He can't be this stupid.' I thought desperately. But of course my brother was indeed this stupid and with Reynes egging this was something he would do.

This left me in a bad situation with two choices.

The first was I don't do anything and men stay put leading to death of Tion and everyone with him. Which was fine by me. I know he would have done same thing for me.

The problem with this choice was in order to fill the space left by Tion, I would have to stretch my forces thin.

So if enemy decide to apply pressure on our flank. We would be in simple terms fucked.

"What about Baratheons?" I asked Lord Roland.

"Last word we received was that they were still on the other side of river."

Meaning Daemon had still not fallen in the trap.

The second option was that I tell men to fight and hope the enemy doesn't overwhelm us and keep their attention on the gap.

"Tell the men to engage." I told Lord Lydden.

"Are you sure?" he asked me. But we both knew the answer.

I just nodded and he left to give orders.

" I believe I should say everything will turn out alright?" Aubrey says from his place beside me.

"Shut up, kid." I told him as I processed the fact I just sent hundreds of men to their death.

Bloody Tion. Couldn't even die without giving me trouble.

We were lucky.

Just as we engaged the enemy, Baratheons crossed the river.

From the distance I saw black dragon banner of House Blackfyre fall to the ground most likely signifying Daemon's death.

And I was right.

The men started surrendering and throwing down their weapons.

Many tried to escape, a few managed but most were killed.

One particular group trying to escape caught my eye. At first I thought about letting them escape. But it was a good opportunity.

So I took the Lance from a nearby man. Put on my helmet.

"TO ME." I shouted at men beside me. And pointed my lance at my target.

"FOR CASTERLY ROCK!" I shouted before charging. I didn't need to look back to know that fifty something men were following my lead.

If I was a perfect lancer I could easily hit my opponents neck killing him in an instant. But I was not. And if I missed this particular man would likely kill me.

So I opted for a much easier target. The horse.

He only had a moment's notice before I drove my Lance through his horse. He tried to leap off but couldn't do so in time.

But someone crashed into my horse causing me to fall down from him.

I was unharmed and immediately rolled back and took out my sword in search of my target.

Luckily I found him a few feet away just getting up. His right leg was mess, crushed. He had also lost his helmet.

I tried end with a clean swipe but he noticed and blocked the strike at last moment.

" Lannister." Aegor Rivers better known as Bittersteel snarled at me while glaring hole through me with deep purple eyes.

With that our fight. We parried strikes at each other, dodged and I used everything I had learned about fighting to keep up with Aegon IV son.

It was evident that despite being nearly fifty, the Bracken bastard was still a deadly warrior. In ideal conditions he could easily kill me.

But these were not ideal conditions. He was tired from fighting all day while I was fresh.

So I stepped up on his crushed right foot and thrust my sword towards his neck.

He howled in pain but again managed to dodge but I was still able to pierce his right armpit causing him to drop his sword.

I used the edge of my shield to hit his face dropping him to the ground. He tried to crawl away from me.

I don't know what happened next but I froze. The blood was everywhere, my head started spinning. But I was able to get hold of myself.

I prepared to the final blow for Bittersteel but I had apparently taken too much time as the sellswords nearby saw their leader crawling away from my killing blow and immediately abandoned their fight and fell upon.

I tried to fight them off but there were too many.

And then all I saw was darkness.

**Yes the battle is partially based on Green Fork. Don't hurt me much.:) **


	9. Aftermath and Journey home

**Before starting I want to say while I love ASOIAF and consider Martin a great writer, the way he skipped small details kind of irritate me. This chapter was done by the time I posted previous one and I spent last few days looking into distance between Lannisport and King's Landing. From various videos and sites, the journey varied from 1 week to 3 months. So I have taken some liberties. As Gold Road is likely to be in good condition and if Robert can reach winterfell in a month-**

**Distance between Casterly Rock to Deep Den- 1 week**

**Distance between Deep Den to King's Landing - 2 weeks.**

**For a professional, well trained and well equipped army it will take 6 weeks to reach King's Landing.**

**Also to all those people who have been sending me PMs about how much of 'shitty writer' I am or how I should delete this 'piece of junk'. Please Kindly SHUT UP. I already know my writing is below average. This my first fanfic, the liklihood of it turning out as masterpiece is nil. And English is not my first language. But atleast I have the courage to put my idea into words and post it on internet.****Secondly I am indeed original writer and I am cross posting this from and Spacebattles. Also I don't actually mind criticism but could you please make it constructive and tell me my mistake specifically. In order to make chapters longer, I will now combine 2 or more parts togather. **

**I apologise for the Rant. **

I woke up with a searing headache. I felt pain all over my body. My mouth was as dry as a desert.

"Water." I managed to croak out.

I heard someone shuffling near me as my head was lifted and I felt cool water run down my throat.

I took me a few minutes to gather my thoughts and get up.

I was lying in my tent, which was a good thing as it meant I had not been captured. I was also naked from waist up. My whole upper body was filled with bruises which explained all the pain I was feeling.

I was distracted from my thoughts by the sounds of someone entering the tent. It was Aubrey.

"It's good see you awake, my lord." Aubrey tells.

I raised an eyebrow at the earnest tone he used. I then proceeded to ask him, "What happened?"

"We won. Ser Duncan killed Daemon Blackfyre in a single combat. After that most of his army surrendered." He said.

"Bittersteel?" I asked about the man I was so close to killing.

"Once his men saw him fall down and you about to deliver a killing blow they immediately rushed at you. By the time we managed to get them of you, he was nowhere to be seen. " Aubrey answered.

Fuck. Really the man seemed to have an absurd amount of luck always managing to escape even after being caught.

"They also found your brother's body, my lord. He had a dagger stuck in his eyes."

"Leave." Was all I said.

I had known Tion would likely die. He had died in canon and the way he stupidly charged into battle ensured it.

I thought that the part of me that came into this world a few months ago would be happy and satisfied. I had given up on trying to redeem him the moment I left Casterly Rock. This part of me knew that Tion would never leave me be.

I expected the part of me that grew up with him and still remembered the times when he was sweet older brother to sad and distraught.

But instead I felt nothing. No happiness, no sadness, no satisfaction at all.

Which scared me to be honest.

I was unconscious for two days. And while I was down and with my brother dead there was a conflict on who would lead Westerlanders. Rogar Reyne had tried to take command but half of his men had died in mad dash with Tion.

So Lord Roland Lydden was the one to lead the men. And he had been more than happy to give it back to me once I got back on my feet.

We had lost around 800 men. Most died because I commanded them to fight. Because of me they will never return home. They will never see their families again.

The fact that I had sent them to death haunted me more than my brother's death. Which kind of made me feel better. It made me hope that I won't turn into a sociopath.

The 'new me' actually didn't get to know Tion. He was just a bully to me. The good memories were buried so deep that they might not exist any longer.

Apparently the reason Tion had charged headfirst into the battle was because he thought if he could push back enemy flank enough the Blackfyres would became even more desperate and fall into the trap.

Which worked in a way. At the cost of his life.

I walked towards the place where I knew King Aegon would be. After spending three days tending to our wounded and getting rest I had decided it was time to head back to Casterly Rock.

I stopped at a distance from where I could see King Aegon and Ser Duncan talking to man who was most likely Lyonel Baratheon.

After waiting for a few minutes I heard a booming laugh from Lord Baratheon ( I found out why he was called laughing storm) as he said loud enough for me to hear, "The answer is yes, your grace. House Baratheon would honored."

They talked for while more as Lord Lyonel's voice went back to normal.

Finally the Lord of Storm's End left the king but he stopped when he saw me.

He was as tall as Ser Rupert with definitely more muscle. He was a handsome man with midnight black hair and deep blue eyes which were staring at me.

"So you are the boy who went after Bittersteel, huh?" he asked inspecting me. "Must have taken some courage."

Then he got an angry look on his face as he said, "Did you know that the bastard was actually fighting me earlier but managed to escape before I could finish him. I should be furious at you for stealing my kill."

And now I was scared, Angry Baratheon are senseless. So I managed to say, " I did not succeed in killing him."

The man laughed causing the tension in my shoulder to disappear. " I wouldn't be so sure of that lad. From what I've heard you injured him badly. He would be lucky if he reaches Tyrosh alive."

" So I think you are here to talk to his grace?" He asked to which I nodded. "So go lad don't keep him waiting." He said leaving but not before slapping my back causing me to stumble.

I made my way to King and Ser Duncan.

Aegon Targaryen was a tall handsome man with purple eyes and shoulder length golden hair.

I kneeled before him.

"Your Grace." I said.

" Rise Ser Tytos." He signaled me to get up.

"You have my condolences about your brother, Ser. He died bravely and his sacrifice will be remembered." He said.

Well more like stupidly.

" Thank you, Your Grace." I replied.

" Its good to know at least House Lannister's future is in good hands. Ser Duncan here only had good things to say about you." I nodded at the mentioned.

I didn't think I made that good of an impression on him.

The King was quite understanding when I told him about the circumstances which caused me to engage. Apparently he had already confronted Lord Lydden who had answered all his queries.

He also informed me that he had sent a raven to my father telling him of my brother's untimely demise.

I spent a while talking to King. He was very friendly towards me. Telling me about some of his adventures.

He told me about second Blackfyre Rebellion, about how he and Ser Duncan had met my mother.

He told me about some of the reforms that he wanted to introduce.

When I told him how I meant to take Westerlands host back home, he was more than happy to let us go.

Before I left he patted my shoulder and said, "House Lannister has been loyal to House Targaryen for a long time. Should you ever need my help or advice, don't hesitate to ask young man."

So then it was time head back home.

The whole journey back to Casterly Rock was rather uncomfortable. Whenever he saw me,Rogar Reyne glared at me with hate filled eyes, such that it was clear to anyone who saw him, that he would rather have me dead than Tion.

In a way, I could understand, Tion was his best friend and his sister's husband. But that didn't mean I liked having him glare at me throughout the journey. The man knew that he couldn't harm me without serious repercussions now that I am the heir to Casterly Rock and as such, his future liege Lord.

When we reached Deep Den, I received a short and curt letter from my father which stated that all those of noble birth who died during the battle,would be honored at Casterly Rock. So I decided to travel ahead with several lords.

Most of those of noble births who died were only distantly related to the main branch of their respective families. The notable exceptions being Tion, Lord Sarsfield's nephew, Lord Jast's youngest brother and two of Rogar Reyne's cousins.

(SCENE BREAK)

I might not have mentioned it but Casterly Rock is huge and magnificent. It is hard to describe its majesty. The original ringfort was built right on the peak of the tallest mountain of Westeros by Casterlys. And since then Lannisters have carved the second largest castle in Westeros in the mountain. The tallest point of the castle is at least twenty one hundred feet high.

As I and the other Lords rode through The Lion's Mouth, the main entry to Casterly Rock, which is an enormous natural cavern reaching two hundred feet high, I noticed all the castle assembled to greet us. My father was standing in front with Ser Rupert by his side and his face not showing an ounce of emotion. My eyes immediately went to my wife who was standing near him wearing a simple but elegant grey gown. I got off my horse and walked towards Jeyne who gave me a little bow once I got near her.

"It's good to see you well, my lord." She said to me with a smile on her face. While I wanted to hug her, I knew it wouldn't be wise doing it in front of others. So I just took her hand in my hand and replied, "It's good to see you too, my lady."

Unfortunately, our tender moment was interrupted by a cry of grief. I turned and saw Ellyn in a simple black gown running towards Tion's body which had just entered the yard.

Tion's body was in the middle of a column of men. Guarded by a dozen Lannister soldiers. The silent sisters had done…

Whatever they do to preserve the body of deceased so that Tion could be buried in the Hall of Heroes with our ancestors.

She started shaking him and shouting at him 'to wake up'. When that didn't work, she started bawling over his dead body. Her brother went beside her in order to try to comfort her.

Seeing the normally arrogant and bitchy Ellyn like that almost made me pity her. At that moment I realized, she might have actually loved Tion.

Almost, because in the next moment, she shouted at Tion's dead body, "How could you make our child grow up without a father!"

I was momentarily shocked but then I remembered she had done the same thing in Canon. But a part of me doubted it was an act because it seemed too real

The way Jeyne tensed up beside me meant that this was news to her too. I looked towards my father, hoping to find some understanding.

Later, if anyone ever asked me about this day, I would say that the only good thing about it was seeing the normally implacable Gerold Lannister lose his composure, standing with wide eyes and an open mouth

(SCENE BREAK)

Another son dead. Another family member he would have to bury beside his parents, brother, niece and eldest son.

Gerold Lannister did not know what he had done to offend the gods that they punish him such by taking his loved ones away from him. He had now lost two of his sons fighting for Targaryens. Tion had died because Aegon 'Bloody' Targaryen wanted him to show his support of the crown.

Originally he had no desire to send men to fight the Blackfyres. Then letters started coming from King's Landing. Both from his cousin and the King. The King had often written about how nobles were doubting him, and about, how a show of support would mean a lot to him. Of course the Nobility doubted Aegon. The fool wants to take their power away from them, and give it to the smallfolk.

But in the end, he had relented and sent the men. The cost was one of his sons.

He was lucky at least, that Tytos survived. He had heard how the stupid boy had charged at Bittersteel. But a part of him was proud of Tytos.

But what mattered the most was the problem at hand.

"Is she telling the truth?" He asked the maester. After Ellyn had told that particular bit of information to half of Westerlands. The funerals had gone as planned. But no one missed the underlying tension. Which was why here he was here in his solar with Rupert and the Maester.

"She has come to me complaining about nausea, headaches and vomiting. At the time I thought it was because she was grieving. As you know she hasn't left her Chambers since she heard about Ser Tion's death. I had my doubts but I was not sure. " The Maester replied.

And the man didn't even think about sharing those doubts. Gerold thought angrily. But the man was right. Ever since hearing about Tion's death, the girl had only left her Chambers once. That was only for visiting Sept at Lannisport, the day news arrived.

"What about her moon's blood?" Rupert asked.

"You would be better asking her maids about that. Unless you can get one of them to spy on her, we can't be sure until she starts showing signs of a developing a bump, which usually occurs after six fortnights or so." The Maester grimaced.

Gerold signaled the man to leave as Rupert exploded, "She is lying. You should kick the bitch out." Gerold let his old friend rant for a bit, then.

When Rupert finally calmed down Gerold replied, "It is not that easy. I cannot kick her out like that. If there is even a small chance she is with a child we can't let her out of sight. You have to remember even today the Kyndalls call me a kinslayer. If something happens to Ellyn while she is with child the Reynes won't be the only ones rebelling." He sat in silent contemplation for a moment. "Have guards posted around her. I want to know what she eats, when she sleeps, and who she meets with. I want to know everything about her every action." This seemed to satisfy the Crakehall enough for him to calm down. " I also want you to convince Tytos to tour the Westerlands and meet the major Lords."

" Why?" Rupert asked with confusion evident on his face.

"If Ellyn is truly with a child, then it is unlikely that I will live to see my future grandchild reach adulthood. And there is no way I will let someone else other than a Lannister be the Regent. Tytos already has the support of Marbrands. Let the boy use his recent popularity to gain more support."

" I have a feeling that this isn't going to end well."

**A/N:- So before you all shout at me hear me out.**

**As far as I know( which to be frank isn't much as i am neither a mother nor a doctor) women starts showing around in between 12 to 16 weeks. Tytos has been gone around for 12 weeks( less than 2 weeks of campaigning plus he left army behind at Deep den.) so if she is lying, she will be caught soon.**

**Secondly Tytos DIDN'T LOOK AT HER PROPERLY BECAUSE HE IS SURE SHE IS FAKING IT.**

**Also note she has only left her chambers once since hearing about Tion's death.**

**And I know dates and travelling time is not ideal. But it's the best I can do**


	10. Coping Mechanisms

Ellyn Reyne was truly pregnant.

She had begun showing a bloody bump. The Maester had confirmed she was pregnant.

She wasn't faking it.

SHE BLOODY WASN'T FAKING HER PREGNANCY.

I don't know what changed. I know she was faking it in the canon and trying to seduce Tytos. Maybe I had pissed off Tion and her so much that they tried much harder in order to remove me from being Tion's heir.

I don't know. What I knew was most of my plans had been derailed. I had been so shocked after the confirmation that I had no freaking idea what to do.

Ser Rupert had been the one to set me straight by reminding me my father won't live forever. If I remember right, he is going to die within the next 8 years.

Which was bad for me.

If Tion had lived I could at least count on my father to hammer enough sense into him that he won't actively try to kill me after he becomes lord of Casterly Rock.

I did not have the same assurance with Ellyn. She and her brothers hated me and I am always going to be a danger to them.

So when Ser Rupert suggested I attempt to gain the favour of the Lords, I readily agreed. If I could install myself as Regent after my father's death I would be quite safe. Plus if I could even have a small part in raising my future niece/nephew, I might be able to steer them the right way.

The good thing was that Bittersteel was officially dead. He had died of his wounds just after reaching Tyrosh.

Which made me more popular among the lords as the killer of the most prominent member of the Blackfyre cause.

It was easier to convince the Lords to follow the killer of a legend than a weak-willed man. I was sure I could persuade many of the Lords to my side. I knew most would easily prefer me over Reynes as Regent.

Unless you were related to the Reynes, you had no reason to like them. It was actually a pity.

Robert Reyne, the previous Lord, was fondly remembered by most of the Lords. He was a clever and genial man. There was a reason he was able to betroth Ellyn to Tywald after all. Compared to him Rogar was seen as a confrontational and arrogant man. Many people were not all that fond of the way Ellyn had been married to Tion either.

After staying at the Rock for a month Jeyne and I departed towards the Golden Tooth.

The Marbrands and their allies had guaranteed I have the support of lords from the Northern Westerlands. So Our plan was to meet with the Eastern lords and travel throughout the Westerlands meeting all the major Lords.

Getting the Leffords to my side was important. They were easily the third strongest house in the region.

The Golden Tooth despite its stellar reputation, was a small, stout castle. It guarded the only major pass between the Westerlands and the Riverlands. From this position the Leffords had made themselves quite a fortune due to their mines and through their control of the River Road in this area.

Loren Lefford, the current Lord of Golden Tooth, was an old man in his late sixties. By all reports the man was bedridden.

He had lost most of his sons and grandsons to either Blackfyres or to diseases. His current heir was his grandson of ten years.

We were greeted warmly by the boy's mother Lady Johanna. She was the wife of Lord Loren's fourth son who had died during Peake uprising.

Our stay was relaxed. Jeyne spent her time familiarizing herself with Lefford heir's mother. While I toured the lands. We even travelled the goat paths that Robb Stark had used in the books to bypass the Golden Tooth. Before the conquest, my guide informed me, Lannister Kings used to send their men through these paths to pillage and raid the Riverlands.

I don't know what the Leffords were doing during the War of Five Kings, because these paths are full of natural choke points. A hundred well-placed men could have easily repelled Robb's army or at least stalled them long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

After a week of double talk and going around the topic, Lord Loren and I finally reached an agreement. Once young Adrian Lefford turns twelve he will become my squire and I will do everything in my power to protect his claim in case his grandfather perishes before him reaching adulthood and his cousins try to usurp him. In return, the Leffords will be at my side if I ever need them.

After the Golden Tooth, our next destination was Hornvale.

The seat of House Brax was bigger than that of Leffords. The castle was situated on a hilly terrain surrounded by several hills and mountains making it easily defensible. The current Lord of Hornvale, Flement Brax was serving King Aegon in his small council as Master of Laws.

In his absence, his heir Wilbert ruled his lands. There was no need for me to try to gain favor of the Braxs. I knew for a fact they were utterly loyal to my father and would do as he commands. So I feasted, hunted and sparred with the Brax family. Wilbert was actually married to Lord Roland Lydden's sister.

We did not stay there too long. Our next stop was going to be Deep Den. Lord Roland and I had hit it off quite well, and I considered him a friend.

But as I have said nothing goes according to plan in Westeros.

When a rider wearing the colors of House Lydden arrived to meet me with urgent news, while we were just a day away from Deep Den, I had a feeling something had gone horribly wrong.

I was, of course, proven right.


	11. The Lioness

Growing up, unlike other young girls, Jeyne never dreamt of being a princess or queen. Those who knew how much her father doted on her were always shocked at her humility. It was because she knew the real reason her father spoiled her.

She knew from a young age that once she reached adulthood she would be married to a stranger in order to further strengthen House Marbrand. As a much as she disliked it, she knew that's how their world worked. Her father who had all his life worked hard to make their family stronger treated her like a princess because he felt guilty.

She was three and ten when the proposal from Casterly Rock arrived. She knew her father was thinking about marrying her to the Westerling heir before that.

The proposal from the Lannisters was a simple one, offering Lord Lannister's third son's hand for her. But everyone could tell it was not an offer. It was a command.

She had never seen her father angry before then. But he had raged and cursed Gerold Lannister to the Seven Hells.

She knew then that she was going to spend most of her life as a hostage in order to limit her father's ambition. Her husband wasn't likely to treat her well, she had thought. It had taken time, but she had made peace with it.

Fortunately, the gods had blessed her, the first time she had met Tytos just a few days before their wedding, she had found that he was a kind soul. He spent most of their time trying to make her laugh.

She could not deny, however, that he was too soft-hearted. Her mother had told her how she might have to cover her husband's weakness.

Then came their wedding night. It was an unpleasant experience. She knew it was expected but it still hurt. But it was her new husband waking up early in the morning had surprised her.

When he came to, and even during the breakfast she could tell something had changed in him. He seemed calmer and more confident.

And then there was his new found desire to learn how to fight.

All of this had terrified Jeyne. She was afraid that the kindness her husband had shown her before the wedding was just a mummer's show. That he would drop the disguise and show her his true colors. The way the servants and other inhabitants of the Rock gave no reaction to Tytos' change in personality enforced her beliefs. She did not know, then, that the people of Casterly Rock only noticed her husband when they wanted to make fun of him.

But despite her fears, the moment never came.

The way his eyes would usually soften when talking to her, asking her about everything from her childhood to her joys and dislikes. How Tytos would try his hardest to make her laugh whenever he could. The way he made excuses not to be intimate with her when he realized she wasn't comfortable with it. Most of all, seeing him with little Jason assuaged most of her ill thoughts. It was then she came to the conclusion that he might not be the man she thought he was before marriage, but he was a good man nonetheless.

It was then they really started getting closer. She often tried to help him with his work with Steward Martyn, using the skills she had learned from her mother about running a household. Due to this, she and Tytos had become good friends.

(Over the years she would often ask him about his change in personality and he would always reply, "I just found something worth protecting." Smiling at her. While the answer will always melt her heart Jeyne Lannister knew better than to believe such an obvious lie.)

And then the incident with Ellyn happened.

Initially, she had tried her best to befriend Ellyn, they were good sisters after all. Ellyn was, unfortunately, too vain and arrogant to build a good relationship with. In her eyes, everyone below her station was dirt. Belittling people seemed to be her favorite past time.

She was grateful Tytos intervened that day, because if he hadn't, she might have done something she would have regretted later.

She remembered being scared to death during Tytos fight with his brother. She knew Tytos had been training, but Tion was stronger and more experienced. Thankfully Tytos won, and they were able to leave for Ashemark to avoid further confrontation.

At Ashemark, she made sure her father and brother did not treat Tytos rudely. Telling them of how he for protected her.

She also learned about the more pleasurable aspects of marriage from her mother. While convincing Tytos was harder than she thought, she was still able to bring him to her bed. He was a man after all.

They became more than friends then.

When Tytos left to fight the Blackfyres, she was once again terrified. She knew he could defend himself, but as she had learned, her husband was still a little soft-hearted. She had seen him wake up from nightmares after killing for the first time, after all. She had been the one to comfort him.

She had spent most of her days in Sept praying for his return. She was elated when the raven arrived that Tytos was well and on his way back.

Her father was also very happy, though for a very different reason. Tion was dead, which meant Tytos was now heir to the Westerlands. Or so they had thought.

When Lord Gerold invited her back to Casterly Rock, her father had sent two dozen men with her.

Once she had reached the seat of House Lannister, she had tried to make peace with Ellyn. She knew if she didn't the Reynes would be trouble.

Her husband couldn't help the matter. While she was not fond of Reynes, Tytos seemed to have an irrational hate for them. Yet, Ellyn didn't let anyone enter her Chambers, nor did she ever leave them.

When she did finally leave the chambers, she shocked the whole castle.

Her husband had refused to believe that Ellyn was with child until she had begun showing.

She knew what this tour was about. Her husband was preparing in case Lord Gerold died. So she did her part. Charming other ladies, telling them about Ellyn among other things. She would be as helpful to Tytos as she could.

So when she saw Tytos talking to a Lydden man with an unreadable expression on his face, she knew something terrible had happened. As she drew closer, she saw that her husband's hands are shaking. He was also clutching a letter.

– prepared. Tell him. I will be there as fast as I can. We can't waste time." She heard her husband saying to the man who immediately got on his horse and rode towards Deep Den.

"Is everything alright?" she asked Tytos, who only now noticed her. Without saying a word he handed her the letter. It read;

"**_To All the Lords and Ladies of the Westerlands, my name is Ellyn Lannister._**

**_I was born as the only daughter of Lord Robert Reyne of Castamare. I was fortunate enough to be betrothed to Ser Tywald Lannister. During the brief time we knew each other, I knew him is a charming, chivalrous and honorable men._**

**_On his dying bed, he made his brother ensure my well being. Tion and I grew close over our shared loss and with time fell in love with each other. Thankfully we were able to marry each other, hoping to spend the rest of our lives happily with each other._**

**_But the Seven are indeed cruel sometimes. Tion was also taken from me before his time. He died bravely, sacrificing himself to defeat the accused Blackfyre's. The only reason I didn't join him too was that he had left a part of himself behind. In the form of our unborn _****_child._**

**_I had hoped to bring my child into this world, hoping to tell the child about Tion, the brave father who sacrificed himself for his people._**

**_What I didn't expect was Lord Gerold Lannister, my Goodfather, my husband's father attempting to kill me. While telling me how no child shall ever rule Casterly Rock. I was able to escape to Lannisport hoping to find sanctuary._**

**_But Lord Lannister followed. He ordered Lord Lyman Lannister, Lord of Lannisport to hand me over while I begged Lord Lyman for my safety._****_Thankfully Lord Lyman is an honorable and just man. He tried to calm Lord Gerold and discuss the matter peacefully. However, Lord Gerold wouldn't have any of it and ordered his men to attack._**

**_Thankfully Lord Lyman and I were saved by the intervention of Lannisport's City Watch. Lord Lyman was forced to confine Lord Gerold._**

**_I have already written to King Aegon V Targaryen telling him of this incident and hoping to have this matter handled peacefully._**

**_But I still fear for my child's safety, because Tytos Lannister is unaccounted for._****_I know he is the one who poisoned Lord Gerold's mind. He lusts after the Lannister Lordship. He is a coward who would use cowardly tricks to take what he wants._**

**_I am just a concerned mother trying to safeguard my child and its future. My lord and ladies, I beg you not to believe his words and hold him till His Grace makes his decision._**

**_Ellyn Lannister neè Reyne."_**

This………..was absurd. Unbelievable. Jeyne didn't have any more words to describe the situation. She looked towards Tytos, who was looking at the setting sun with an unreadable expression.

"What does this mean?" she asks him in a disturbed voice, hoping not to hear the likely answer.

"War," Tytos stated in a dull voice.

As she feared.

She took Tytos' hands in her own and leaned on him as he put an arm around her and pulled her close.

After a while, Tytos began to hum and sing a song.

"And who are you, the proud lord said,

That I must bow so low?

Only a cat of a different coat,

That's all the truth I know.

In a coat of gold or a coat of red,

A lion still has claws,

And mine are long and sharp, my lord,

As long and sharp as yours.

And so he spoke, and so he spoke,

That lord of Castamere,

But now the rains weep o'er his hall,

With no one there to hear.

Yes, now the rains weep o'er his hall,

And not a soul to hear."

While Jeyne would never hear the song again, and her husband would also never mention it. She would always remember it, however. Every time she did, a chill would run through her spine, reminding her how terrifying her husband can be.


	12. Enough is Enough

**This chapter might be a little bit underwhelming but it moves the plot forward.**

Pate looked around his Chambers, once he was sure that no one was there, he leaned back and relaxed. Finally, he could have some damn rest.

He had spent nearly all day tending and stitching wounds of the new guardsmen. Bloody men don't even know how to hold a spear.

Damn Lord Estren, for taking away all the competent men.

Pate has been serving at Wyndhall for nearly ten years.

The Estrens were not a particularly powerful house. Their mines only produced a few metals and none of them very precious ones like those of Leffords and Lannisters. Nor were their lands very populous.

To compensate for this Lord Estren in recent times had tried to make his house more influential by tying it to house Reyne. It was a good plan at the time. Tion Lannister was married to the daughter of House Reyne, and it was well known Reyne's had his ear. So Lord Estren nearly emptied his coffers as an incentive for marrying his sister.

But then Tion Lannister had died in the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion. There was still hope, however,as Ellyn Lannister was pregnant.

Then the raven from Lannisport arrived.

Dark wings, dark words indeed.

He had advised Lord Reginald to not go against the Lannisters, or to at least remain neutral. But Roger Reyne's letter had made sure his lord wouldn't do that. The letter had stated that to succeed they needed Tytos Lannister.

Dead or alive.

So Lord Estren had taken most of his garrison and many able-bodied men in a force totalling nearly athousand men and marched towards Tytos Lannister last known location.

At Hornvale.

Lord Estren was hoping to either catch the Lannister scion on his way to Deep Den or join forces with other Reyne sympathizers and trap him at the seat of House Lydden.

Personally, he thought it was a foolish idea. Tytos Lannister could easily be at either Riverspring or Deep Den. Not that his lord listened to him.

Due to a shortage of men, they were forced to recruit young inexperienced boys to garrison the castle. An increase in raids from bandits who had noticed the shortage of men did not help the situation.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by a knock on his door. Yet, before he could open it, the door was kicked open, and several armored men entered his chamber.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" he asked hoping for an explanation. Instead of answering Pate, the man at the front grabbed him. He tried to struggle, but one of them punched him in his stomach. They dragged him through the halls. Everywhere, men wearing the Estren crest were either down or dead.

He managed to take a look out the window to see the towers of the castle were not flying Estren banner like they usually did. They were flying a crimson banner proudly displaying the Golden lion of Lannister.

(Scene Break)

I sat at Lord Estren's Hall, eating Lord Estren's food and drinking his wine ( it tasted pretty bad) with Lord Estren.

Taking the castle had been pretty easy. Having some of my men lure out the new guardsmen and taking the guardsmen place and sending them back into the castle. They had then waited till midnight after which, they managed to open the gates allowing rest of my men to enter the castle and take it. All of it would not have been possible with Lord Reginald's utter stupidity.

But even this did not soothe my sour mood. I still had no freaking idea what the hell was happening at Lannisport, even though I had my doubts. The only news I had gotten from Casterly Rock was from Ser Rupert. His letter was short and crisp. Confirming that my father was indeed a captive at Lannisport and that he was handling it. He also told me to be careful as Roger Reyne was going to come after me.

And rightly so just a day after I received the letter from Ser Rupert and raven from Ashemark had arrived. Reynard Reyne had somehow managed to take the Crag. This ensured that Marbrand and their allies have to deal with him before committing their forces anywhere else.

Meanwhile, according to Lord Alyn, Roger was last seen moving south with most of his men. As far as I know, he had been joined by Houses Kyndall, Greenfield, Doggett, Garner and Yew.

It was understandable that he would come for me. The Reynes had no chance of taking the Rock even with my father as a prisoner. My father had already kicked out most of their men in the Rock before the Blackfyre Rebellion.

But if they were to kill me and my father, the next Lord of Casterly Rock, not counting Ellyn's unborn child, would be seven years old Jason.

As much as I hate to admit. Roose Bolton is right; child Lords are the bane of a house. If neither my father or I make it out alive of this, it wouldn't matter if crown intervened and punished the Reynes.

The west would fall into anarchy. The Targaryens might put someone in charge, but in the end, it wouldn't matter. All the major Lords would end up fighting for either influence or Regency.

Ironically, while there were several Lannister cousins at the Rock, the closest to the mainlinewere the Lannisters of Lannisport, who were descendants of Damon Lannister's (my grandfather) sister.

So yeah, it was necessary for me to live.

The only reason Tywin was able to deal with Reynes so easily in canon was that he had the element of surprise. They were the second strongest house after the Lannisters for a reason after all. I had actually toyed with the idea of not giving Reynes a fight and wait for King Aegon's response. My father was after all one of his main supporter so surely he would take the decision in my father's favour.

But Lord Roland Lydden, the loyal bugger he is, had already sent ravens to all nearby houses, whose loyalty he was sure of, telling them of my arrival to Deep den and to gather their levies for me. Within days of my arrival, he had gathered around twelve hundred men who were joined by five hundred men from House Sarwyck.

Serrett, Vikarys, Swyfts and Paynes are going to join me here and Wyndhall.

So I had the choice of fighting Reynes or looking like a coward in front of the Lords.

I, of course, chose the former.

Thankfully Jeyne was safe at Deep Den. She had made me promise to come back alive (like I would do anything else if I had a choice). I was really lucky to be married to someone like her.

So here I am, at Wyndhall, waiting for my allies to arrive so I can take Roger Reyne, the Red Lion of Castamare, in a fight.

You know what? I am gonna kick his ass. I am gonna kick his family's ass. I have had enough of the Reyne's bullshit.

Fuck those bloody Reynes.

Next chapter will be showdown with Reynes. Also if anyone can help by looking into and correcting mistakes for the battle in next chapter. It would be great.


	13. Showdown

**So Battles are again not my cup of tea. I tried to make it realistic but it might not turn out like that, So my apologies. If I did anything wrong, please let me know**

"I am going to give you one chance Lannister, surrender now and you won't die painfully." Were the first words uttered by Lord Reyne during the parley.

There were five men in each group. With Roger Reyne were Lords Estren, Greenfield, Doggett, and Kyndall. Aubrey rode with Ser Tytos, Lords Lydden, Payne and Ser Harys Swyft.

Aubrey looked towards Ser Tytos who had his eyebrows arched in amusement as he said, "If it's all the same to you, I reject your humble proposal. I have no intention of dying today."

The Lord of Castamare looked furious. But before he could say anything Lord Estren interrupted him. "What have you done with my wife and children, you monster." He shouted.

"They are perfectly safe, and are being treated honorably, Lord Estren. I have no intention of harming helpless women or children." Ser Tytos replied calmly.

Lord Kyndall snorted as he said, " I really doubt that. Killing children is in your blood, boy. You Lannisters will butcher your own family for your greed." He snarled at the end.

Roderick Kyndall's hatred for Lannisters was Legendary. Even after more than 20 years the man still blamed Gerold Lannister for his niece's death. He had even petitioned the King to investigate twice. First,during the reign of King Aerys the First and again during King Maekar's reign. Both times there was no evidence found.

"Enough!" Roger Reyne shouted. "I gave you a chance Lannister, and you spat on it. So be it You will die today!"

With that, the man turned his horse about and rode away. Headed towards his army.

"Well, that was a waste of time." Ser Tytos declared as the other Lords too moved to take their respective commands.

He was going to stay with Ser Tytos, in order to provide him with protection. He again let his mind wander towards the enigma that was Tytos Lannister.

Aubrey knew people found him strange and mayhaps he was indeed strange. From a young age, he had trouble talking to other people. It was not that he could not speak, no had trouble finding something to talk about. So he stayed quiet most of the time.

Aubrey always prided himself as an observant person. He always noticed how boys his age would make fun of him. Of course, they made sure to do it away from him and his father.

With no friends at all, he spent all his free time in the training yard. It would be a lie if he said that he gained no pleasure in defeating all those who made fun. But back to Tytos Lannister, he was a strange man.

He was very different from the rumours around him. While he often put up a façade by casually smiling most of the time, it was his eyes that betrayed him.

Those emerald green orbs showed intelligence and wariness at the same time.

He had seen it when Ser Tytos interacted with Roger Reyne during the Rebellion. He was always on guard around him. Like he always knew Reynes would betray him.

But most of all he did not seem to mind Aubrey like others. He japed around him, talked with him and sparred with him. He was a friend.

So when he had received the letter from Lannisport, he had convinced his father to raise levies in Ser Tytos' name. When the raven had arrived from Deep den, he personally led men from House Serrett.

"You okay, there." Ser Tytos asked him,interrupting his thoughts.

He just nodded and looked at the field. The Lannister army number around four thousand five hundred men had positioned themselves on a small hill a few hours ride away from Wyndhall. They had already fortified the hill and an erected palisades on the ground.

While the Reyne army had nearly five hundred more men, the fortifications had rendered their cavalry useless. The same could not be said for their own cavalry which was commanded by Lord Lydden and Lord Payne. Whereas the center was personally commanded by Ser Tytos and Aubrey was entirely made up of pikemen and archers.

The battle began at midday when Lord Estren led the vanguard with a few hundred men towards the center. Nearly half of his men died from the rain of arrows before they reached the fortifications. The rest followed soon after.

The second wave was much stronger and had more men. It seemed that Lord Reyne wanted to win through sheer numbers. The enemy force reached the palisades despite taking losses. For a moment Aubrey was worried they might be able to overwhelm the defences. But before he could express it.

"I would not worry much," Ser Tytos said beside him, "They could indeed overwhelm us but for that Roger would have to stretch his forces thin giving Lord Roland a chance to attack their flank." And indeed the enemy forces retreated after a while.

"So we do nothing?" he asked.

Ser Tytos let out a short laugh and said, "No, we don't. Like I said I have no intention of dying today. The moment I lead men into battle, Roger Reyne would seek me out and I don't fancy my chances against the Red Lion."

"And he is desperate. The only chance of this little rebellion of being successful is if he can kill me."

"And last I heard the Leffords and Braxs were right at his heels. They will be here by dusk at most. All we have to do is sit comfortably and defend ourselves till they arrive. After they arrive we can easily finish this off." Ser Tytos was right, of course, the Reynes kept charging, again and again, failing every time.

It was nearing dusk when Knights bearing purple unicorn of house Brax and a golden inverted pile on sky blue, a sun left in the sky of House Lefford arrived. This was the last straw for the enemy army, they had marched hard and fast to reach here and were already tired from fighting. So most of them surrendered.

Aubrey put on his helmet and got ready knowing it was time to play his part.

"Are you sure about this. I have seen him fight, he is no slouch." Ser Tytos said with a hint of worry.

Aubrey nodded and said, "Aye, my lord. You have my word, the Red Lion won't live to see another day."

(SCENE BREAK)

Alyn Marbrand was a hard man. He had spent all his life devoted to his family and family name. Under him, the Marbrands rose from a middling house to one of the most powerful houses in the Westerlands. Funnily enough, all this was due to the Reynes.

He had been five and ten when his father had hosted Robert Reyne at Ashemark. His father had offered his elder sister to the man but the Lord of Castamare had not only rejected his sister but also insulted his house, at their own ancestral seat no less. His uncle Denys had nearly challenged the man to combat. It was this insult which made him want to increase House Marbrand's reputation.

With the help of his uncle who had travelled throughout the Seven Kingdoms, competing in tourneys and gaining coin, Alyn worked hard to get his house where it is today.

To be truthful he would have supported Tytos Lannister even if the man wasn't married to his daughter just to get back at Reynes. He remembers his anger when his daughter was forced to marry Lannister man. His daughter deserved better than a third son.

But the lad had proven him wrong. And Alyn was never so happy about being wrong. The lad had not only killed Bittersteel, a living legend, but now his grandchildren would rule the whole of the Westerlands after this whole Reyne mess.

At first, he had thought about giving the main Reyne force a chase. While the younger Reyne brother might try to attack his lands, he could easily leave a few men behind to defend. But he had given up on that idea because he knew by the time he would have caught up with Red Lion, the battle might well be over.

So he turned his eyes towards the Westerling's ancestral seat.

The Crag might once have been a prestigious castle but it was more ruins now. To think his beloved daughter might have been a lady of this ruin.

Reynard Reyne only had 500 men to hold the castle. With the combined strength of the Marbrands, Baneforts, Plumms, Brooms and Stackspears, retaking the Castle had been child's play. Now he stood in front of the younger brother of the Lord of Castamare who was on his knees and wrapped in chains.

"You will regret this, Marbrand" Reynard snarled at him.

Alyn just laughed and declared, "I don't think I will."

"My brother will kill Tytos Lannister." The man continued.

"We will see about that," Alyn replied hoping the man would shut up, as he was getting tired of the idiotic ranting.

"And maybe afterwards we will pass your daughter around our army after me and-" Before he could finish his head fell from his shoulders.

Alyn sheathed his bloody sword and said, "It is a pity that Reynard Reyne died during the taking of the Castle." He looked around the room challenging someone to say he was wrong.

His Good brother and Lord of the Banefort sighed beside him and said, "A pity indeed. He would have made a good hostage."

Afterwards, he was walking with his good brother.

"So what now? Do we head Lannisport or towards your good son?"

"Tytos can handle himself and I don't think we are needed at Lannisport."

While he did not like Gerold Lannister much and would be more than happy if the man died even he could not deny the man was a good lord. He had ruled the West wisely for so many years. Most of the houses would side with Lord of Casterly Rock,especially against the Reynes.

"No, we head somewhere else." Alyn grinned savagely ."We head for Castamare."

**As much as I wanted a big showdown at the end of the day Reynes have very few supporters. I tried to do my best hopefully you all like it.**

**Next chapter, we will know what is going on Lannisport.**

**Also I need a beta, if anyone is free and can volunteer? I would be grateful. **


	14. Brotherly woes

**Please forgive my Grammer and mistakes. I also need a beta if anyone is free.**

"No, I won't surrender."

"But Brother- "

"I said No. I am the Lord of Lannisport and if I say the city won't surrender then it won't. Now leave me alone."

Tommen Lannister sighed as he left his brothers Chambers.

He had always known his brother was arrogant and stupid, a dreadful combination indeed, but he never knew it would lead to his family's doom.

His father had often told him back when he was younger, that he would have to help his elder brother and make up for his mistakes.

He wondered how his father would expect him to deal with this situation.

His brother was not only stupid enough to sleep with recently widowed wife of the heir of Casterly Rock but also send her a message asking if she was pregnant with his child.

And the fool did not send the message just once, no he had to send the message again when the Reyne bitch did not send a reply first time.

The woman then came to Lannisport to shut his brother up. She was still adamant the child in her was her late husband's. Tommen thought it likely because after eight years of marriage Lyman had yet to get his wife with child. Neither had any of mistresses given birth to any bastard.

Little did she know someone else had heard the message too.

He had been in the barracks doing paperwork in his capacity as the Lord Commander of Lannisport City Watch, when one of his men had come running to him, telling him that Lord Gerold Lannister was seen heading towards his brother's small castle with an angry expression and a dozen men.

While Lord Gerold knew the man who sent the message was in Lannisport, he did not know the man was his brother.

When he had arrived at his brother's castle he had found his brother's household guard fighting Lord Gerold's men.

In the ensuing chaos Lyman had managed to find Lord Gerold and hold him at knife point.

He had advised to let Lord Gerold go and ask for mercy but the Reyne woman was against it. She knew if Lord Gerold was let free, hers will be the first head on spike.

So she filled his brother's head. She told him about the recent strife between the King and Lord Gerold, She was sure if she agreed to support King's reforms he would side with her. She had even said once her brothers kill Tytos Lannister they will win.

She had been so sure of their victory.

But then the news had come.

Tytos Lannister had routed Reyne men and their allies near Wyndhall. The Red Lion of Castamare was dead by Serrett heir's hands.

Meanwhile the younger died at the Crag and last news was Alyn Marbrand was moving to lay siege at Reyne ancestral seat.

Ellyn Reyne had gone mad with grief. She was in denial. She was shouting at anyone who would hear her that her brothers death was just a lie meant to lower the morale.

Tommen snorted. The morale couldn't even fall any lower.

Once he reached the city walls, he let his eyes roam over the host surrounding the city.

The Crimson and Golden Banner of house Lannister was most prominent but one could also see the banners of Houses Prester, Kenning, Sarsfield, Farman, Jast, Myatt and several dozen other houses.

"Tarbecks joined at noon today. The old lord bought less than two thousand men." A voice said from beside him.

He didn't have to look to recognise whose voice it was.

"How many does it make now?" He questioned his second in command.

"Around twelve thousand, I would say." Answered Aaron Hill.

Tommen grimaced. The City Watch had around eight thousand men who were professionally trained and well equipped.

In ideal conditions, he knew they could easily hold the city against much larger force but these were not ideal conditions.

The moment Rupert Crakehall attacked the city half of his men would turn on other half and welcome the army inside the city.

Hells his own good father Lord Lannett had told him he would side with Lord Gerold.

That was not even counting the Lannister fleet which had stayed loyal to Warden of West blockading the city with ships of House Farman.

The city would fall, there was no doubt about that.

It was just a matter of when. Most likely once Tytos Lannister arrives.

The Raven which had came from King's Landing won't change a thing.

The King had told both sides to lay down their weapons and wait for him to arrive.

But this so called Rebellion would be over before the King even reaches Westerlands.

Tommen knew what he had to do if he wanted his family to survive.

"I want you to wait for my signal." He told his second in command who nodded.

Tommen gather a dozen men loyal to him to make for his destination.

On the way in one of the halls two guardsmen tried to stop him.

"You can't go there." One of the guards shouted but before he could do anything else Tommen's men had already killed him and his partner.

His brother had wanted to put the prisoner in dungeons but even his own servants knew better.

They had provided the man a comfortable Chambers and catered to all his needs from providing him books from library to making him food of his choice.

All in all he looked less like a prisoner more like a honoured guest.

As he entered the Chambers, he saw that Lord of Casterly Rock was reading an old tome from the library. He knew the man had read most of books from library.

"Anything I can do for you, Ser Tommen?" the old man said without taking his eyes off the book.

"It is more of a something what I can do for you, my lord." Tommen said in a respectful tone.

The Warden of West's eyes left the book and stared at him for a while before the man chuckled and said, "Well. Then get on with it."


	15. Passing the Torch

**I am not too happy with Aegon POV. In my mind he comes of as good man who was not made for politics and was too soft on his children. He also likely didn't receive any training prior to ascending. Well hope you all like it.**

Aegon sighed as he looked at the reports again. All these casualties would have been avoided if he had been quicker.

This was one of the reasons Aegon wanted to give small folk definite rights. Because at end of the day while Lords quarreled, it was they who paid the price.

"What are you reading, my love?" His beautiful wife asked as she entered the room and settled in a chair beside him.

"More News from the West." Aegon said

Betha quirked an eyebrow and said, "I thought that mess was over."

"This would be last of the reports. Apparently Castamere is naught but ash now. Tytos Lannister razed the castle to the ground."

"What about members of House Reyne?" Betha asked.

"All the male ones including the young boys were sent to the Wall while all the female ones were sent to the Silent Sisters."

"That is rather brutal of that young man. I had thought the Lannisters would at least let someone continue the line."

Aegon snorted at hearing that,

"From what I remember of him, I don't think young Lannister was the one who ordered this. No, this has Gerold Lannister's hands all over it. It is a message to all his vassals."

Aegon had always been wary of the Lord of Casterly Rock. While the man might have been one of Aegon's biggest supporter during the Great Council, Aegon hardly knew him. Unlike Lyonel Baratheon who had fought beside Aegon during the Third Blackfyre Rebellion, and had known him since Ashford, Gerold Lannister had no solid reason to support him. Also the mystery surrounding the deaths of Tybolt Lannister and his daughter made Aegon suspicious.

"And all this was lawfully done." Aegon muttered bitterly.

"What? How?" Betha's eyebrows had risen up in shock.

"As my master of Laws, and Gerold Lannister's cousin, reminded me: while my grandfather personally dealt with a few houses like the Peakes after Redgrass Field, he gave the right to punish others, like the Reynes and Yronwoods, to their Lord Paramounts. Both of these houses got away without any punishment at the time because they were too well connected. But in recent years the Reynes have managed to alienate most of the West. So even if I wanted to try to lessen the Reyne's punishment? I can't. The Lannisters are just exercising the right given to them by King Daeron II." Aegon explained.

"I might have to choose a new Master of Laws soon." Aegon told his Queen.

"Lord Lannister will be offended when you replace his cousin." Betha replied factually.

"I think Gerold Lannister is more offended by the fact that I did not intervene on his behalf the moment the raven from Lannisport arrived."

And he should have but instead he let his personal feeling affect his decision. Ever since the end of the Fourth Rebellion the letters from Casterly Rock had been too short and cold.

Also everytime he brought up new ideas or reforms during small council meeting Lord Brax presented laws that he had never heard of, some even from the Conqueror's time, to stop him from even enacting his new laws. He knew the man was likely doing this on orders of his liege Lord.

When the news from the West had come, a ruthless part of him wanted to support the Reynes. While he had indeed talked with young Tytos about his ideas and the young man seemed receptive enough, he did not know the boy well enough to count on him. Especially given that he would be taught by his father.

Ellyn Reyne had promised to give him all the support he needed. Even if she tried denying it later, he could always have appointed someone else as Regent once her child was born.

But in the end he had decided against it. Other Great Houses would not have liked it if he had supported this coup against the Lannisters and they were already less than fond of him.

It was all for naught. He hadn't even left the Crownlands when a raven had arrived from Casterly Rock in Gerold Lannister's hand saying that the matter was dealt with and there was no need for him to interfere further. The letter also thanked him for his assistance and underlined that the Lannisters would be more than happy to pay their debt to the crown.

"I fear we have lost the support of the Lannisters, at least for the near future." Aegon sighed.

Betha took his hand in hers and said, "It's a good thing then that we would no longer have to rely on them, once the betrothals are done."

She was indeed right. The Tyrells, while being the second richest house in the realm, also controlled the food supplies to the rest of Westeros along with the Tullys. The Redwynes had the strongest and Largest fleet in Westeros apart from the Ironborn.

Combined with the martial strength of House Baratheon, this would create the strongest power block in the Seven Kingdoms, centered around House Targaryen. In the End the Dragon would grow stronger and prosper.

\--

I yawned as I made my way to the Great hall. Once again my father had demanded my presence just as I was about to go to sleep.

I was a little nervous since this was the first time I would be alone with my father since this mess. Oh, I was there with him when he had executed Lyman Lannister in front of all the people of Lannisport and stripped his family of their Lordship.

My father most likely had a plan for Ellyn too but unluckily, or luckily for her, she had already thrown herself from a tower the moment she had heard the city gates were open.

Tommen Lannister was allowed to live, alongside his family, though he was removed from his position as Lord Commander of the City Watch.

Immediately after the execution my father commanded me to go to Castamere. The moment I got there Lord Alyn dragged me to his tent and told me that he had already gotten his orders from my father.

All I had to do was stand there and look tough.

The remaining Reynes surrendered the next day. All the men and boys were sent to the Wall, while all the women and girls were sent to the Silent Sisters.

Thankfully, or maybe not, all the children were older than five.

The upper part of Castamere, meanwhile, was brought down and razed to the ground. The ancestral seat of the Reynes was literally burned to the ground. The mines and Castle below the ground were just barred.

Privately I questioned Lord Alyn, why not send the little children to the Citadel or let them become Septons or septas.

He told me that too many Lords often follow their maester's advice and that septa are often requested to teach young ladies or can become Most Devout. One lucky well placed person with a grudge could easily mean trouble later down the line.

It also didn't escape my attention how most of the Lords thought I was the one taking all these decisions.

I knew what my father and Lord Alyn were trying to do. I could also understand it but it did not mean I had to like it.

Really, opening the Gates of Lannisport only the day after I joined the Siege even though my father had taken control of the city a few days ago made it obvious.

I had only arrived back at Casterly Rock yesterday. I entered the great hall to find my father standing alone.

He did not say anything, I wasn't even sure that he noticed me. I was just about to clear my throat in order to get his attention when he spoke.

"In a way you and I have a lot in common, my son. Neither of us was expected to rule but both of us were put in a position where we had no other choice."

"I wasn't supposed to be the lord of Casterly Rock. I was just meant to be a advisor to my brother Tybolt."

"People whisper about his mysterious death. They say that I made sure that no one found the cause of his death and they are right. you want to know how he died?" he asked but it seemed like he did not want an answer and was going to tell me anyway.

I couldn't say anything, this was perhaps the first time that my father was talking to me so earnestly.

Frankly I did not want to interrupt the moment but my father did not know about my internal thoughts as he continued.

"Tybolt died as he drunkenly fell from his horse while returning from a brothel,breaking his neck. Of course I made sure no one found out about it, if they had he would have ended up as a jape."

"As for Cerelle, I adored her but a fever took her away before the maester could do anything"

"Then I found myself in my father's and brother's seat, ruling the land that my family has held for nearly 8000 years. It seems like I did not do a good job."

"You have ruled wisely in all these years father." I said to him

"Maybe I did in earlier years but in the past few years I have let my pride and arrogance blind me. The way I so easily rode into my captivity is the proof of that."

Finally he turned towards me so that I could look at his face.

He truly looked his age, his face was filled with regret and sorrow and a small smile.

"The Westerlands need someone better, someone younger, to lead it into the future."

He placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "Even though I did not play a part in your growth I am still proud of the man you have become Tytos and I am sure your mother would be too if she were here."

I was shocked and speechless but I still managed to blurt out, " But I am just six and ten."

He chuckled a bit and said, " I would still be Lord of Casterly Rock but in name only. I will be there to advise you should you need it but you will have free rein."

With that he patted my back and said, "I have a feeling you will be the one to lead house Lannister into a brighter future son."

Having said that he started making his way out.

My eyes somehow ended up looking at the Golden throne of the Lannisters. Two large crouching lions, with rubies in their eyes and a body of gold, made the armrest while another bigger lion made its back with the Lion's jaw as headrest.

"You can sit on it, you know?" I turned around to see my father hadn't left the hall. He smiled at me and said, " It's yours, now." As he finally left.

I slowly made my way towards the throne and slowly sat on it. You know, from its appearance, one might think it was uncomfortable.

It definitely wasn't. I could easily fall asleep on this

I smiled as I leaned into the throne.

I could get used to this. Huh…. Westeros might not be too bad after all.

**The law by Daeron II was something I came up with. It is mentioned that Daeron was harsh in his punishment to rebels but it seems some like Reynes and Yronwoods got away without it. (or maybe they didn't but here they were not punished)**

**The next chapter will have a 4 year timeskip. And now we can finally get to uplifting Westerlands. Though I warn you the growth will be slow and the chances of guns and railroads being there are nil. I have the little to no knowledge about these subjects. I am going to take inspiration from A Trident is Forged on SB on this subject.**


	16. More things change

**_8th month of 241 AC_**

Robert Farman couldn't help but fidget while waiting to get summoned.

He shouldn't be here. His father was supposed to be here. He was not ready to rule Fair Isle. He was just eight and ten.

But his father was dead now. He died during an accident at harbor, his stomach crushed under the mast of a ship.

Which led to Robert becoming Lord of Fair Isle. And coming to Casterly Rock to swear fealty to his liege lords.

A blonde haired, blue eyed, young boy of perhaps five and ten walked up to him and said, " Follow me my lord, he is waiting for you."

As the boy led him, Robert noticed the Lefford crest on the boy's clothes.

But before he could think more on it, they entered the solar.

Robert unconsciously straightened himself.

" Lord Farman, it is good to see you." Tytos Lannister rose from his chair behind the desk and greeted Robert.

One would think the new Lord Farman would be here to meet was the Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of West, not his son and heir.

But it was an open secret that, ever since the Reyne Rebellion four years ago, Tytos Lannister had been ruling the Westerlands in all but name.

There were many stories and rumors of how that came to be.

Some said Gerold Lannister had gone mad while he was a captive at Lannisport, others said that he had grown tired of ruling and handed the reins to his heir.

But the most prevalent rumor was that after the Rebellion Tytos Lannister had taken control of the Rock and made his father a prisoner in his own castle.

Speaking of the man, Tytos Lannister was not what Robert had imagined.

He was just tall enough to stand out amidst a normal crowd. Not blessed in the way that Crakehall, or even Robert himself, was.

He was not the most handsome man. His golden blonde hair were cut short and he had a clean shaven face.

But it was his eyes that reminded Robert why has father had been wary of the young Knight.

Those emerald green orbs shine with an unusual intelligence. Like he knew something that nobody else knew.

Those were the eyes of the man who had killed Bittersteel, the man who had crushed the Red Lions' army. The man who ordered the end of a house that had stood since the Age of Heroes. The man who had burned Castamere to the ground.

The eyes of a predator.

The Laughing Lion, he was called.

A few years ago, it was mocking name. They said you could insult Lord Lannister's younger son to his face and he would just laugh at himself along with you.

Now...

They said if 'the lion laughed with you then the gods had blessed you'. The Marbrands, Seretts, Lyddens and Leffords, all had gotten stronger in some way or another in the last few years.

They also said 'But if the lion laughed at you, then even the Gods won't be able save you.'

Greenfields,Doggetts,Kyndall and all those who had supported Reyne during their rebellion lost their Lords, either to the Wall or the Executioner's block. Their holdings were reduced by half. Their sons and daughters now hostages.

All this reminded Robert to be on guard around this man.

The Lannister heir shook his hand and said in a sincere tone, "You have my condolences about your father. He was a good lord."

Robert just nodded and sat on the offered chair.

"My lord, I was hoping to swear fealty" Robert began but the man behind the desk just waved off and said, " Don't worry about that. My father is going to hold Court on the morrow. You can take your oaths then."

Tytos Lannister leaned back while his squire, the Lefford heir, poured him and Robert some Arbor Gold.

Robert took a sip to calm his nerves.

"I am not sure if you know but your father and I were talking about a few things. Do you know anything about it?"

Robert shook his head and said, "The Maester did say my father was talking to you but he didn't mention the topic."

Ser Tytos sighed and said, " Tell me lord Farman, how many ships are anchored at Fair Isle?"

"Around twenty ships, my lord. Including Eight war galleys and carrack and cogs." Robert instantly answered.

" Hmm. The Lannister Fleet itself has around thirty ships including a few galleys, dromonds, cogs and carrack."

The man stopped and stared at Robert for a while before saying, " During the times of the Kings of the Rock, the Lannister fleet was a force to be reckoned with. But now despite being the richest kingdom in Westeros, we have only fifty to sixty ships at most. Only a half of them in fighting condition. The Ironborn, despite being the poorest of the kingdoms, have four times as many ships as we have. We cannot even compare our fleet to the Redwynes. I don't think I have to tell you of all the people how this happened."

No, he didn't. Robert knew the cause well enough.

Dalton Greyjoy.

Even after a hundred years, the people of Fair Isle still remembered the atrocities committed by the Red Kraken and his Ironborn.

Young women and girls taken from their homes to become salt wives, men and boys sent to the Iron Islands to became thralls. Homes were burned, farms were razed. Those who tried to defy them were butchered.

The Red Kraken had burned the original Lannister fleet when he had attacked the fair Isle.

Lady Johanna Lannister, widow of Lord Jason Lannister and Regent at the time, had tried several times to rebuild the fleet but the Lord Reaper of Pyke made sure she never succeeded.

In the End, they had to depend on the Reach's fleet to defeat the Ironborn.

Robert knew that the current Lannister fleet was a mere shadow compared to the fleet commanded by the Lannisters prior to the Dance.

"Your father was going to build me a fleet." Ser Tytos spoke. "Along with refurbishing the current ships, he was going to build new ones from Lannister gold. Not as large a fleet as the Redwynes and Ironborn, but large enough to compete with the Royal Fleet. And not only warships but also new trade galleys and more."

Robert was shocked. His father had never mentioned something like this. Though it explained why he was so excited during his last few days.

" I want to ask, are you up to it?" The man in front of him asked.

Robert, not being a fool, said yes.

They spent the rest of the afternoon discussing the new fleet. What type of ships to build? How many of each type? Where to get the wood? Amongst other things.

But what made Robert work even harder was Ser Tytos' words before dismissing him.

"Once we have a respectable fleet, perhaps we also would have to choose a Lord Admiral of the Westerlands, like Lord Redwyne is current Lord Admiral of the Reach."

\--

On a well trodden road, there were a few travelers.

A small carriage, flapping the three owls upon a green field of House Garner, was travelling guarded by four horseman around it.

Behind them were what looked like a few traders with their carts and wagons.

If observed it looked like a few small folk had decided to travel behind the carriage for more protection.

'Nothing out of the ordinary.' The men probably had thought.

They attacked the caravan when it was passing by the woods.

More than two dozen men attacked the caravan . Wearing boiled leather and armed with cheap and rusted weapons.

All of them targeted the riders first, expecting them to be more dangerous.

What they didn't expect was for the 'small folk' to be wearing mail underneath their clothes or the carts to filled with castle forged Steel weapons.

What they certainly didn't expect was armored knights coming out of the carriage and wagons.

They should have ran. Instead they tried to overwhelm the knights.

But they never stood a chance and soon were defeated.

Eleven year old Jason Lannister watched as all the alive bandits were rounded up. More than half of them were already dead.

This wasn't what he expected when he had begged his brother to let him became a squire.

Though nor was washing clothes and serving food.

But he should have known better. Tytos had often told him how Legendary duels and amazing fights were only common in songs.

He also said that at the end of the day Knight were just trained killer.

His thoughts were interrupted when someone laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you fine?" Ser Aubrey Serrett questioned him.

Jason straightened up and nodded. He couldn't let Ser Aubrey think his squire was a coward.

A guardsman walked to Ser Aubrey and said, " We have rounded up the prisoners , mi'lord."

"I will question them myself." Ser Aubrey said.

He then turned towards Jason and said, " You don't have to come with me for this, you know. Your brother will already be wroth with me once he finds out I let you come with me for this."

" I will come." Jason replied resolutely. He was a Lannister. He had to be brave, just like Tytos.

Ser Aubrey inspected him for a moment before going towards the captives.

A tall, bald and burly man who was screaming profanities at everyone was the one who claimed to be the leader of this group.

He stopped shouting once Ser Aubrey got near him.

" Do you know me?" Ser Aubrey asked the man.

The man snarled and said, " Aye I know about. You are that peacock who is the Lion's pet."

Ser Aubrey gave no reaction to insult and said, " Then you know that you better give answer to whatever I ask of you."

"More than a fortnight ago, Lord Myatt's young sister went missing riding in these woods. Where is she?" Ser Aubrey questioned.

Instead of answering, the man laughed but Jason noticed something strange.

"I don't know about any highborn bitch." the man jeered.

"Where do you hide your loot?" Ser Aubrey asked again. And the man did that again.

" First you answer my question. Do you go on all fours and bark if Lannisters command you to?" the man then spit on Ser Aubrey's face.

"Jason." He was surprised when he called him out.

"Did you notice anything peculiar?" the Knight asked.

Jason said, "Yes my lord. Every time before speaking this man look towards him like he is asking for permission."

He then pointed towards the lanky brown haired prisoner.

Ser Aubrey then said, " Which means he is not the leader. And if he is not the leader then that means we do not need him."

Before anyone could react, Ser Aubrey had already stabbed the bald man in the neck.

Blood flew from the dying man's neck to Ser Aubrey's face.

Ser Aubrey took out a cloth to clean his face and walked towards the brown haired man.

"You are going to answer all our questions." Ser Aubrey said to him.

" I would rather die." The man replied.

In the End, he did die. But not before answering all their questions.

**A/N:- The first bit is meant to show how Tytos is seen by people in this timeline. I might have overdone a bit. Not too much world building right. I am still working on some ideas.**

**Next chapter will be a Tytos POV where we will learn what's happening in seven Kingdoms at large.**

**Thanks to@Preierfor beta reading.**

**Hope you all liked it.**


	17. More they remain same

**Instead of preparing for my exams, I wrote this . Well might as well post it. Thanks toPreier for beta reading.**

The hall was in a joyous mood. Everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The men were drinking and laughing. Some were groping the maids.

The women were either dancing with someone or gossiping in some corner.

The bride and Groom were sitting on the high dais, whispering and smiling at each other.

I noticed Lord Alyn standing in a quiet corner and took the opportunity to get away from old Lord Turnberry who seemed determined to gain my favor.

Thankfully he didn't notice me sneaking away.

"Congratulations are in order my lord." I said to Lord Alyn once I got close to him.

"Aye, it's good to see both of my children being married to people they love and not stuck in loveless marriage for duty." Lord Marbrand said.

I was kind of flattered as we both looked towards Donnel Marbrand and his now former Stackspear wife.

" I hate to ask you this during festivities but you said in your letter that you found something?" I asked him.

Recently there had been an increase in bandit attacks. Not only in the Westerlands but also in Crown lands, Reach, Riverlands and Stormlands.

These bandits were not only targeting normal smallfolk, they were also targeting nobles. Especially Nobles actually.

If you were even remotely related to any highborn, you were not safe.

Most recently they had abducted Lord Myatt's younger sister. I had sent Aubrey to find out what happened to her.

He had found out that they had taken the fifteen year old girl to a small town in northern westerlands.

While most of them managed to escape, the Marbrand men were still able to capture more than a few men for questioning.

They had also found out young Desmera Myatt's body.

From the scars, marks and bruises, it was evident she did not die peacefully. No fifteen year old deserved what happened to her.

"I wanted to tell you that apparently one of the captured man knew who their leaders are?" the Lord of Ashemark said.

I raised my eyebrows. What was the problem? If we knew their leader, we could easily deal with them.

"Who are they?" I asked.

"The Rat, the Hawk and the Pig." Lord Alyn said in a worried tone.

"I remember reading about them somewhere but I can't recall." I asked confusedly.

"They were three individuals who assaulted Princess Aelora Targaryen during Aerys I reign which led to her killing herself afterwards." Lord Alyn explained.

Yeah now I remembered.

Bloody hell didn't they also lead a smallfolk rebellion.

"Do you think it's the same people?" I questioned Lord Alyn.

"I don't know. But they are using the rejection of the King's laws to incite unrest. Bloody Targaryens." Lord Alyn spat.

I too grimaced. I was beginning to believe that the fire at Summerhall had less to do with the rebirth of dragons and more to do with the Lords trying to get rid of Aegon.

Since last year whenever Aegon tried to enact a new law or implement some reforms, smallfolks would end up hearing about them way before the Lords.

Aegon was most likely hoping this would pressure the Lords to accept those laws and reforms.

But it did not happen. Instead when Lords rejected his ideas their smallfolks began acting out. Refusing to pay taxes, attacking nobility and so on. All of which the Lord used as an excuse to not implement those laws.

Though I could understand his desperation.

I had played with the idea of locating

Jenny of oldstones but I didn't.

Firstly because Jenny was a common name. I did not even know what she looked like.

Secondly Oldstones was deep in the Riverlands. If someone found out I had sent men searching for a lowborn girls, questions would be raised.

So Duncan still ended up being married to Jenny.

Lyonel Baratheon had called his banners in response to this insult and marched on King's Landing, burning all the towns and villages on his way.

He had easily crushed the hastily gathered host assembled by the King outside the walls of the capital.

Knowing he had no chance of taking King's Landing the Lord of Storm's End had agreed to a trial by Combat. If he won Duncan Targaryen would lose his head, if he lost neither he nor his sons would ever rise against Targaryens.

While he did lose and Aegon did try to recompense him by betrothing his daughter to the Laughing Storm's heir, the damage was already done.

All of Aegon's laws were now undone in the Stormlands and he no longer received any support from them.

A year later Jaehaerys and Shaena eloped.

According to rumors Lucas Tully too planned to rebel but gave up the idea once he realized that many of his more powerful bannermen would side with the Crown rather than him.

The Tyrells were a little pacified when King Aegon's youngest son was sent to Highgarden to become Lord Theodore Tyrell's squire.

But both of these house expressed their anger by slowly increasing food prices.

Which made me thankful that Swyfts and Crakehalls grew most of the food for Westerlands.

My father, while more than happy to let me do everything, was firmly against even hearing about the King's ideas and not above using his Warden of the West card on that.

The Starks had never cared for the South

much.

The Martells would rather not deal with King's Landing at all, especially after the First Blackfyre Rebellion.

The ailing Lord of the Eyrie, Jasper Arryn, and his son Jon were satisfied with the status quo.

And with Aegon and his sons having alienated the rest of the great Lords except the Greyjoys ( whose support wouldn't mean much) the Targaryen were perhaps the weakest since the end of Dance of Dragons, maybe even weaker.

It was a good thing I had killed Bittersteel because if the Blackfyres had attacked now, while they might not win, they sure would have gotten the closest to getting the Iron Throne since the Redgrass field.

I sometimes pitied Aegon but then I also got the desire to slap him silly because, due to him, I most likely would have to deal with a smallfolk rebellion.

"Don't worry I have a plan to deal with these bandits." I assured Lord Alyn.

The Lord of Ashemark sighed and said, " I hope you do. Between you and me there are still some Lords who doubt you despite the good work you have done in the past few years. Dealing with these rogues is an excellent opportunity to prove them wrong."

With that he left me alone.

I massaged my head. Lord Alyn had just confirmed what I already knew.

There were a few Lords in the west who did not like me.

Some didn't like the way the Reynes were dealt with. Others, like the previous Lord Farman, thought a young man like me had no right to command them while my father is alive.

It's a real_pity_Lord Farman died and his more complacent and obedient heir became the Lord of Fair Isle.

But all my worries were banished as I felt a tug on my breeches and looked down to see two large green innocent eyes and two chubby arms raised upwards.

" What are you doing here all alone huh? Where is your mother?" I asked as I settled my daughter into my arms.

She pointed towards Jeyne who nodded at me before going back to talking to the ladies beside her.

Little Cerenna Lannister was born a year after the whole Reyne debacle.

It was love at first sight for me. Even at three years she had me and her grandfather wrapped around her little finger.

Just then bard began singing the so called Fires of Castamere.

_They blazed through the rains, and they flamed through the nights,_

_'Til the smoke came to strangle the halls,_

_They thundered and roared at their dank old stones,_

_'Til the walls did buckle_ and fall.

Well might as well give bards some new material about crushing the rat, shooting the hawk and roasting the pig.

**A/N- Credit for song goes to Ranchoth. He suggested it at Alternate History and I wanted to use it.**

**Some people might say why not use Rains itself? That's because in my mind that will always be Tywin's song. People don't think of Lannisters when they hear it, They think of Tywin freaking Lannister who drowned men, women and children who went against him.**

**As you can see Tytos has become more ruthless under Gerold's tutelage.**

**I probably won't post next chapter before 15th (I'll probably have to spend most of the night studying now)**

**Hope you like it.**


	18. Hidden and found

**I had some free time this weekend and managed to write this. Hopefully you all enjoy this. Again thanks toPreierfor making this readable.**

There were around a hundred men in the field.

Some were noname hedge Knights, a few were of noble birth but so far related to their main family that they didn't matter. Most were young commoners who either wanted to achieve something in life or get revenge on bandits.

Ser Rupert got in front of them with a speaking trumpet in hands.

"Listen here all of you shits." He shouted causing all of the men to quieten down.

"All of you are here because you have volunteered to fight the bastards who have been menacing our lands in recent times. Which means all of you buggers are at my mercy." The Crakehall Knight grinned savagely at the end.

More than one man shivered in the crowd.

Jason didn't blame them. He knew better than anybody how sadistic the old Knight could.

"From now on you do what I tell you to do. If I tell to jump you don't ask why, you ask how high. I don't give a damn who your father or mother is. All you will be under me and I won't tolerate any shit. So, does anyone have any problems?"

No one replied so the giant man asked again.

" I said DOES ANYONE HAS ANY PROBLEMS?"

This he received a loud "NO"

"Now I want you all to begin running around this field till you fall down of exhaustion. All of you. If I see anyone slacking off, you will regret coming out of your mother's womb."

As all of the men began running, Ser Rupert came to stand near him and Ser Aubrey.

"Gods, it seems like I have been giveing these speeches since forever." The old man grumbled.

"And every time you get more vulgar." Ser Aubrey said quietly.

"Well you are more than welcome to give these speeches lad. Though I doubt they will be able to hear you." The Crakehall Knight told the Serrett heir.

"We now have around two thousand men. Ser Tytos wants us to have these men trained first and then slowly increase the number to five thousand." Ser Aubrey listed off, not giving any attention to the insult.

"You know, with the new fleet and creation of this 'Western Guard', one would think Tytos is preparing for War. Though I guess he is just pouncing on the opportunity." Ser Rupert said thoughtfully.

Jason was confused.

"What kind of opportunity?" he asked Ser Rupert.

Ser Rupert looked towards him and began explaining.

"The main reason these bandits are so dangerous is that they are constantly moving. Let me give you an example. They raid the Serrett lands and then quickly move towards Lydden lands once the Serrett men notice them. Now the Serrett men can't go chasing them in Lydden lands unless they visit Deep Den to ask for permission. And by the time they get it, these bandits have already left the area."

"Now you could send Lannister men after them but even the most loyal Lords would get spooked if their liege lord's men are roaming their lands without any apparent reason."

The old man then let his gaze wander towards the men running around in the field.

"While your brother might say this Western Guard is no different than Lyonel Baratheon moving around Stormlands hunting bandit with a small host, it is clear he is building an army. Something he couldn't do if the Reynes were still there."

"With the Reynes gone, the only houses which even come close to the Lannister in power are the Marbrands, Leffords and maybe Crakehalls." Ser Aubrey spoke, surprising both Jason and Ser Rupert.

"The Marbrands will never move against him. Ser Tytos has won the support of Leffords through his squire. As for Crakehalls" here the young Knight looked towards Ser Rupert who thumped his chest and said.

"My nephew would be more than happy to join the guard just to get a chance to bash some heads."

Ser Aubrey just sighed and glanced at the men.

"Are you going to make them run around all day?" He asked.

The Crakehall Knight just laughed and said, "aye."

_(SCENE BREAK) _

Lady Jeyne Lannister sighed as she looked around her husband's solar.

Both her husband and Good Father had restricted the amount of work she could do.

Apparently neither of them wanted her to have any kind of stress while she was with child.

Usually she would be spending this time with Cerenna but today Lord Gerold had taken her to the beach.

So she decided to amuse herself by sitting in her husband's solar while he did some work.

She was hoping it was a boy this time. Although Tytos had a rather strange reaction when he found out she would be giving birth early next year. He was also particularly insistent that if the child was a boy, they would not name him Tywin.

She chalked it up to another one of her husband's eccentricities.

Over the years she had noticed her husband often behaved strangely. She had asked around Casterly Rock, even her Good Father, but no one knew anything.

But at the end of the day Tytos might be a little strange but he was the father of her children and her husband and she loved him the way he was.

"What are you reading?" she asked Tytos in a curious tone.

Her husband didn't even look at her and replied, "Just a report on something that blacksmiths are working on for me."

She smirked and said, "Another one of your delusional ideas?"

Tytos looked at her and glared heatedly as he said, "My ideas are not delusional."

Indeed most of his ideas were not.

The refurbishment of the Gold, River and Ocean roads along with the construction of a new network of roads all over the Westerlands had seen an increase in Trade.

The Myrish engineers had reconstructed the major roads in the image of the famed dragon roads of Valyria.

While the Reach has always been the home of chivalry, it was the Westerlands which armed that chivalry by always having the best blacksmiths on this side of the Narrow Sea. The new Water mills had ensured that the Westerlands could easily increase the quantity produced, at a reduced price, while maintaining the quality.

And while her own father had nearly burst a vein when Tytos had explained his new complicated method to maintain the records, the Lord of Ashemark had later told her privately that Tytos' method had made things like collecting taxes a lot easier. He had even found a few men who were stealing from him.

But, like she said, 'most' of his ideas were not delusional.

"What about your canal?" Jeyne asked, her smirk widening.

Tytos' face flushed with embarrassment as he looked back at the paper, trying to pretend he didn't hear her.

The first of Tytos' grand plan was a canal. One connecting the Mander to either the Red Fork or Blackwater Rush.

He had been rather boastful about how he would get the Tullys and Tyrells cooperation for the canal. Even when she and Lord Gerold expressed their doubts, he ignored it.

So it had been rather hilarious for her to watch when the Myrish workers told her husband that such a canal was impossible. She still remembered Tytos asking them in desperate voice if they could make a canal in the Westerlands.

Since then Tytos had always made sure to gather all the knowledge before acting on any of his ideas.

Looking at Tytos, Jeyne decided to ask something that she often wondered about the Lannisters.

"Tytos, what would happen if Lannister mines go dry? These mines have been up and running for thousands of years and the Lannister power is built upon them. What if they were to go dry?" she asked.

Tytos looked at her and leaned back. He gave her a smug smile, like he was amused.

"You know, I asked this same question to my father around two years ago. While he said there were still lots of untouched gold veins, he showed me something to alleviate my worries. But I am not sure, should I show it to you?"

Jeyne's eyebrow twitched as Tytos made a mock thinking pose.

She was about to say something when Tytos started touching his desk oddly.

Soon a secret compartment was revealed which held a dagger and a key.

Tytos took the key and said, "Well I might as well show you, you are the Lady of the Rock after all."

With that he motioned her to follow him.

Even after all these years Jeyne could still get shocked when she was confronted with Casterly Rock's dimensions.

The seat of House Lannister was already only second to Harrenhal in terms of sheer visible size. And just like the Reynes did, the Lannisters also converted all their dried mines into halls, Chambers, armories and so on, increasing the size of Castle even further.

While, unlike Harrenhal, Casterly Rock could easily be defended by a reasonably sized garrison, maintaining it was another matter.

There were rooms in the castle that had never been used, Halls that were never roamed, places where even servants didn't go.

It was to one such part of the castle that Tytos took her, after grabbing and litting a torche for each of them on the way.

They were currently in a small room which looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a long time.

The only noticeable thing about the room was a dusty old painting of a scowling blonde man. He was likely one her husband's ancestors.

"What are we doing here?" she asked her husband. Instead of answering he handed her his torch.

He then proceeded to remove the painting from its place and laid it on the side. He then walked to the other side of the room and started touching the wall.

She was about to speak again when the wall which previously held the painting was pushed back to reveal a stairway.

"Follow me." Tytos said as he made his way down the stairway.

Jeyne walked behind him slowly.

At the end of the stairway was a thick, heavy, iron door.

Tytos used the key to open it and Jeyne entered with him. While her husband went to light the torches her attention was taken away by something else.

When she crouched down to see why the floor felt so strange, she realised she was standing on coins. Gold coins.

When enough torches were lit for her to see clearly, she took a sharp breath.

Everywhere her eyes could see was golden. Heaps of golden coins were gathered along with several of precious gems. The shelves on the wall were filled with bricks of gold. More than a dozen golden statues stood just near her.

"What is this?" Jeyne whispered, more to herself than her beloved.

"You really think that the Lannisters never thought about what they were going to do if all their mines went dry? in the thousands of years they have ruled?" came the voice of Tytos.

Her husband was leaning on a giant statue of a lion. The Lion, like all things she could see, was made of gold with emerald as his eyes.

"Many Lannisters have tried to make sure that the inevitable drying of our mines never effect us."

Tytos moved in front of her and spread his arms and continued, "This particular vault was created by King Norwin Lannister, also called Norwin the Niggardly for his pettiness. It was his portrait on the wall. He even refused to pay his daughter's bride price. He hated spending money. So he made this vault, storing all his wealth here."

"How much is there?" Jeyne asked, still shocked over the quantity of gold she could see.

"No idea. Lannisters have been depositing as much gold as they can for the last 4000 years. And the only time that gold has been taken out from those vaults was during the Conquest."

Jeyne raised her eyebrow. "The conquest?" she asked.

"Apparently when Loren Lannister heard that Aegon had indeed landed in Westeros with his dragons, he sent his brother with the entire Lannister fleet and a huge amount of gold to Essos. He was hoping to hire sellswords and find any knowledge on how to deal with dragons." Tytos explained.

"But by the time his brother Lancel had reached Essos, the field of fire had already happened. Now Loren was in trouble. Most of the ports on the way to Lannisport answered to Aegon now. He was afraid that the Targaryens would confiscate all that gold if they found out."

"So what did he do?" Jeyne asked, now immersed in the story.

"First he spun a tale to Aegon about how he had sent the Lannister fleet to attack Dragonstone while the Targaryens were away. While the Conqueror was angry, he did not do much. Next he sent word to his brother to take all that gold to the city that had the least reasons to like Valyrians and whose Bank was famous for its secrecy." Tytos told her.

"Braavos. All that gold was deposited into the Iron Bank wasn't it?" Jeyne asked.

"Yes." Tytos grinned. " At that time Braavosi were also wary of the Targaryens so there were some stipulations."

"Like what?" Jeyne questioned.

"Mainly that said Lannister gold at the Iron Bank can never be used to pay the Iron Throne's debt unless the King holds the Lannister name. There are dozen of others. As of this year the Lannister account at the Iron Bank has nearly 10 million golden dragons."

Jeyne was again shocked. She always knew the Lannisters were rich but was always astounded at how much wealth they hoarded.

Her astonishment didn't end there. She and Tytos decided to explore the vault.

There were gold coins from the time when Lannisters were Kings, depicting Lions. Statues, suits of armor made of gold. There were several pieces of jewellery studded with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds.

The vault seemed endless.

After a while Jeyne's foot slipped and she nearly fell down but Tytos caught her before that.

"Are you okay?" Tytos asked with his arms still around her.

But Jeyne wasn't paying attention to him. Her attention was on a particular place where the rug had shifted due to her movement.

" What is that?" Jeyne asked her husband while pointing towards the wooden latch.

Tytos looked at it and immediately moved to open it.

He took out a sheathed sword. The pommel was made in the image of a golden lion, with Rubies in its eyes.

He took out the blade from its scabbard.

While Jeyne was no expert in swords even she could admit its beauty. There were Red and black ripples through the steel. It seemed long enough to be a bastard sword.

"Valyrian Steel." Tytos murmured in the shock.

"It's not the only thing Valyrian here." Jeyne said, prompting Tytos to look back from where he had previously taken the sword.

Inside were four large scaly eggs. Dragon eggs.


	19. The Pride Grows

**_So a lot of people didn't like what I did in last chapter. Maybe I might have overdone it. But at least one Lannister in thousand of years might have worried about their mines running dry. And seeing how most nobles don't look at trade in favourable way, a secret vault seemed likely_**

**_There is an explanation for the sword and eggs in this chapter. Hopefully that is satisfactory._**

I might have miscalculated a bit I thought, as I gazed at the smoldering ruins that just a few days ago were the bursting harbor of Kayce.

"I told you that Western Guard won't be as effective as you thought." Ser Rupert said from beside.

I sighed.

The Western Guard was a good idea in the long term. A standing army could always be useful. It was not like I was creating a huge army. Just five thousand men, something Lannisters could easily afford.

But what I underestimated was the time it took to train a competent army. I had taken inspiration from the legions of old Ghis and what I remembered about medieval armies from my previous life and modified the Lannister City Watch's training regime.

But it would still take time for them to become the Army slash Police force that I wanted.

Which wouldn't have been a problem if those fucking bandits that I was using as an excuse to create an army had not taken it as a personal challenge to show said army'sineffectiveness.

Their activity in other Kingdoms had decreased while attacks in the Westerlands had increased exponentially.

Just a few days ago they had raided the town near Riverspring and had fought Lord Sarswyck and his men.

This particular incident happened when they started a large fire at the docks.

Lord Kenning, along with his sons, descended from their castle with two dozen guardsmen to help.

But once at the harbor, they were attacked ruthlessly from all sides.

When Lord Kenning himself was injured and had lost half of his men, he had no choice but to retreat back to castle and come back with reinforcements.

But by the time he returned, the bandits were gone and the docks were naught but ashes.

"Tell Lord Kenning that Casterly Rock will loan him as much money as it takes to rebuild the harbor." I said to Ser Rupert.

"I will tell him but it is you these rebels are portraying as a Tyrant. They are using your name to inspire fear and not in a good way."

"And the more attention they get, the bolder they will become and their number will swell."

" I hope you have a plan with this Tytos or I fear that soon we could have a fully fledged small folk Rebellion on our hands." Ser Rupert finished, before leaving.

Before, I was content to let Ser Rupert and Aubrey to handle this mess.

But now it seems like I better deal with it myself.

_(SCENE BREAK) _

Gerold Lannister watched calmly as his son distracted his granddaughter with a story.

He knew Tytos would rather be at Jeyne's side right now.

During Cerenna's birth, Tytos had stayed with Jeyne. When the midwives had objected to his presence, he had told them to 'do their fucking job'.

But this time, when Jeyne went into birth, little Cerenna had somehow found that something was happening to her mother.

When she reached near the chamber where Jeyne was and heard her screaming Cerenna became inconsolable and wouldn't stop crying herself.

It took Tytos coming out and taking her far away from Jeyne's Chambers to calm her down.

Even now, looking at Tytos, Gerold could see he was stressed. The last few months had been hard for him.

In response to bandit activities, Tytos had passed some laws for the small folk, like giving them the right to request audience from their Lord Paramount and lowering the taxes. Some of the Lords had opposed him, stating that the bandits would just use these laws for their own benefits.

He had also commissioned bards to roam around the Westerlands. They were to spread tales about the betrayals of the dastardly Reynes and improve Tytos' image. Perhaps he may have overdid it five years ago when he started the rumors about his son.

And just thinking about what Tytos and Jeyne found in the vault gave him a headache.

To think all this time Brightroar was in Casterly Rock. And the less said about the dragon eggs the better.

Thankfully there was a letter from Tommen Lannister II himself, addressed to his brother Cerion, which shed some light into this mystery.

After the Doom when Volantis sent a fleet to the ruins of Valyria, they lost some of their most important people.

And soon a civil war erupted behind the famed black wall between the members of the old blood over the control of the city.

While they did manage to come to a compromise, a slave managed to steal 4 dragon eggs during the chaos when his owner and owner's family was killed.

That slave fled to Westeros in the hope of finding sanctuary and offered those eggs to the King of the Rock in exchange of land and fortune. There was no further mention of that slave.

King Tommen had explained how his father had kept those eggs a secret and only told his heir about them.

The Lannister King went to Valyria hoping to find the secrets to hatching and controlling a. dragon.

He also knew that there was a chance he would not return and apparently he couldn't give Brightroar to Cerion due to a certain 'Damon' which is why he hid it with the eggs.

He and Tytos spent the next few days looking through the archives, wondering why this Cerion didn't look into the vault. It was Tytos who found the answer.

Tommen II Lannister had two brothers. His heir, the sickly and bookish middle brother,Damon. And the youngest brother Cerion,who apparently Tommen favoured.

After Tommen was officially declared dead Cerion rebelled against his older brother who held the Rock.

A short bloody Rebellion followed which ended when Cerion died in battle and Damon became King of the Rock.

It seemed Cerion never told anyone and Damon likely thought the Valyrian Steel sword lost at sea with Tommen.

He and Tytos had decided to let the dragon eggs hidden, they had no use for them right now.

As for Brightroar... Within the next year a ship with a trusted captain would go as close as it could to the Valyrian peninsula and 'discover the ruins of King Tommen's ship and recover Brightroar'.

The ancestral sword would remain hidden until then.

All this made both Gerold and Tytos wonder what else was hidden in the vaults. So, after much deliberation, Gerold took it upon himself along with Steward Martyn ( who of course didn't know the exact location of the vault) to create an inventory.

It was a rather boring task. But it needed to be done and it needed to be done discreetly.

And while Gerold had certainly enjoyed last few years, which had been the most relaxing since he became a Lord, he knew Tytos needed him. Especially in such pressing times.

A maid entered the Chambers and said, "My Lords, it's over. Lady Jeyne and the babe are fine."

Before she could say anything else Tytos raised

"Why don't you stay here with your Grandfather for a while, Cera?" Tytos said as he passed the little one to Gerold and bolted.

Cerenna was confused as to where her father went so she asked him "Where did Dada go?"

Gerold chuckled a bit as he picked her.

"He went to meet your new sibling. Why don't we go and join him?"

The little girl's eyes widened as she smiled toothily and nodded rapidly.

When Gerold reached the birthing chamber he saw Jeyne lying up in the bed, her body covered in sweat and her face flushed red. But she had a small tired smile on her face.

Which might have something to do with the small bundle in Tytos' arms.

His son had a big smile on his face as he held his new child and babbled at the babe.

"Mama, Papa!" Cerenna shouted in his arms getting their attention.

Tytos got up from his position beside Jeyne and showed the babe to Gerold and Cerenna.

The child had a small blonde tuft on his head. It looked like the babe had just stopped crying and was looking around curiously.

Cerenna leaned forward to get a good look at her sibling.

Tytos smiled as he said, "Cerenna, meet your little brother Tybolt Lannister."


	20. Can't even walk by

Late 242 AC

TYTOS' POV

Even in my previous life, I was never a religious person.

In this life, I can count the number of the time I have visited in one hand.

I visited once after Tion's death. After both Cerenna and Tybolt's birth and this is the fourth time.

Unfortunately for me, my wife was a religious person. She visited our Sept every seventh day, prayed daily and so on.

Which to be truthful was good PR. It is a fact that the people of Lannisport love Jeyne more than me. She often visits the orphanages and Septs of the city, distribute leftovers from feasts among the poor etc.

But back on the matter even my father, a very pragmatic individual, visited Septs from time to time.

Of course this does not mean that I do not believe in God's. I remember about the children of the forest and R'hllor from the books. And me being in Westeros is likely the doing of some sadistic jerk of a god.

"It is a marvelous invention indeed, Lord Lannister." Spoke septon Roland to my father as we walked towards the Sept of Lannisport after riding from Casterly Rock

Septon Roland was a Holy Devout and in charge of all the faith's activities in the Westerlands.

He was also very deep in Lannister pockets. My father had apparently played a crucial role in his rise and knew all his secrets.

So the man knew where his bread was buttered.

"But my Lord, I am afraid that if the Faith uses this contraption then a lot of Septons and Septas would lose their way to serve the Seven." The Septon said.

The contraption that he was talking about was the printing press which was safely tucked away in the Rock

Gods bless those hardworking blacksmiths who have worked hard on my rough idea and made it possible. They were of course paid handsomely and were given jobs at Casterly Rock along with their families.

The paper meanwhile I brought over from Essos where it was commonly used. The Parchment was only used for important and official documents.

"Well those Septons and Septas would have other ways to serve the Gods." Jeyne interjected.

It was decided that my father and Jeyne would run this show while I would stay quiet and let them have their way.

"It has always bothered us that despite their devotion to the Seven, the small folk can't have the pleasure to read the Seven pointed Star themselves. What better way to serve the Seven than to teach others how to read their holy teachings themselves." Jeyne explained.

This was the only reason that I was allowing the Faith to use the press even with the risk of them exploiting it.

For all its corruption the Faith of the Seven genuinely did a lot to help the smallfolk. They ran several orphanages throughout Westeros, often taking in commoners and educating them so they could join the faith. Many Septa and Septons who had knowledge about medicines offered their services to people for the free. There was a reason that people were still devout even knowing the Faith was just a puppet.

"Teach smallfolk? But….Why? My lady..." It was obvious that the Septon was visibly confused and didn't know what to say. So my father decided to help him.

"Indeed, perhaps they can begin teaching the people of Lannisport once the construction of your new Sept is complete." My father stated.

Now the Septon's eyes had gotten very big and his mouth hung open, "A….. new Sept, My lord." He asked my father.

"Yes a new Sept." I said with my most sincere fake smile. "It will be named Golden Sept of Lannisport. It will be likely of the same size as the Starry Sept. The construction will begin soon."

Because if my father wanted to spend more than a fortune building a Sept in my mother's honor, then it might as well serve some other purpose than just being a symbol of Lannister wealth.

And just like that Septon Roland was in. After a lot more pointless talking, he informed us that he would ride to King's Landing with haste to 'bring this joyous new' to the High Septon.

After this my father decided to head back to Casterly Rock while Jeyne and I decided to walk around the city.

"That went well." Jeyne said beside me.

"It did." I said.

Jeyne looked at me with a raised eyebrow and said, "You are still worried about some fanatics rising up aren't you?"

I nodded my head reluctantly. Jeyne squeezed my hand and said, "If someone like that still ended up surfacing we will deal with them."

Easy for you to say, woman. But I said nothing as we walked around the city.

Lannisport was now ruled by a High Steward who was chosen by the Lord of Casterly Rock.

The City Watch itself was revamped. Those who had stayed loyal to wrong branch of Lannisters were kicked out and now they all knew that their pay came from coffers of Casterly Rock.

It was quite obvious that Jeyne was far more popular than me among the denizens of the city. It was good to know that she heard me when I had talked about positive reputation and propaganda and took it to heart.

"M'Lady, M'Lady." An old wrinkly women dressed in tatters shouted as she tried to get closer to us but was stopped by the guards.

"If you could bless me grandson." The old woman said a she held the bundle in her hand a little higher.

As Jeyne moved towards the old woman something clicked inside me.

Maybe it was instinct or maybe it had something to do with the look of utter hatred and loathing that the woman got for a moment when she looked at me.

Whatever it was, it caused me to grab Jeyne's arm, pull her back and get in front of her.

Which was a good thing because when I turned to look at the old woman, she had apparently taken out a dagger, thrown the bundle aside and pounced.

I was surprised for a moment but was easily able to push her aside.

The guards immediately grabbed her. The members of City Watch who were patrolling the streets gathered around us.

"TYTOS!" I heard Jeyne scream to see her looking at me. Or more specifically at my stomach.

And…… Yep, there was dagger. Stuck in my stomach.

Sigh….. A man can't even go on a peaceful walk with his Wife in Westeros.

_(Scene Break)_

JEYNE'S POV

"My Lord, you can be sure that this won't go unanswered." Spoke Lord Lannett, trying to placate Lord Gerold who was pacing the room with a furious expression.

Jeyne meanwhile was sitting beside Tytos as Lord Lannett's maester tended to his wounds.

Immediately after the attack, she and Tytos had moved to the High Steward's Castle with the old woman as captive.

Thankfully the dagger in Tytos' stomach did not manage to go too deep and didn't pierce anything important so he was relatively fine.

Lord Gerold had arrived from the Rock, the moment he got the word.

So here they all were in Lord Lannett's solar.

Ser Rupert then entered the room.

"Who is She?" Lord Gerold asked him sharply.

"She is native of one of the towns in the former Reyne lands. Apparently both of her sons died during the Reyne's Rebellion." Ser Rupert explained.

"She was targeting Jeyne, wasn't she?" all eyes turned to Tytos who was still leaning back on his chair with his eyes closed. "So, who sent her?" he further asked.

Ser Rupert had a grim expression as he replied, "Aye, Jeyne was her target. She was hoping to attack the lass when she would visit an orphanage but seeing you both made her act hastily."

Jeyne felt herself pale at hearing this. To think she would have likely been dead if the woman hadn't acted hastily.

"As for who sent her, The Rat wanted to send you a gift." Ser Rupert said, shocking everyone.

Tytos squeezed her hand before getting up.

Jeyne recognized the expression on his face. It was the same expression he had when he had shown her Ellyn's letter all those years ago.

"That's it." He said. "I want to know every little bit of information we have on the Rat, Hawk and Pig. I don't give a damn how you found it. How many of the guard are battle ready?" he asked Ser Rupert.

"Around half." Ser Rupert replied instantly.

"Armor them up. I am going to lead them myself. Take some of the men from Casterly Rock and the City Watch to increase the number." Her husband commanded.

"But my Lord we don't know where their hideout is." Lord Lannett interjected.

"Then I will search every fucking town and village in the west to find out." Tytos told him.

"Tytos." Lord Gerold began but Tytos didn't let him continue.

"THEY CROSSED THE LINE." Tytos shouted as he got in front of his father.

"They targeted my wife. The Mother of my children. You told me to sit back. You said that being too harsh on these bandits wouldn't be good for my reputation. But I don't care now. The pest made it personal. I am going to give him the fight he wants. He wanted my attention. Well now he has it. Let's see if he likes it or not." Tytos said looking at Lord Gerold.

Both father and son stared at each other for a while. Before Lord Gerold stepped back and bowed his head a little.

"As you wish." Said the Lord of Casterly Rock.


	21. preparing to clean

**I apologise for the delay. Real life got in the way and then I learned that leaving your laptop near your toddler niece even if you are going to bathroom is not a great idea.**

**Thanks to@Preierfor beta reading this chapter.**

You know when I heard of smallfolk uprising, my mind immediately went towards the French Revolution.

I thought that this was like this, people fed up with corrupted nobles and rising up for their rights.

But I was wrong. Oh, these bandits did spread tales about nobility's corruption and wanted people to rise but it did not seem like they had any idea about what they would do if the highborns are toppled.

That did not mean they were not organised. They were, remarkably so.

They recruited youngsters, especially the ones from remote villages. They filled their heads with the idea that their lives would be better if it weren't for Lords.

They were trained in their village by only one trainer. That trainer was their only connection to the organisation. The trainer himself knew only enough for him to do his job.

Even before the attack on Jeyne I had sent men to try and infiltrate this group. But even after a year they could not provide me any worthwhile information because they were not trusted much.

But they were able to tell me why Jeyne was attacked.

The Rat, the Hawk and the Pig used the greed and corruption of the Lords to get the smallfolk to work with them.

And I was a problem.

Despite my own less than stellar reputation, my schemes were well received by the people.

They said the Lords hoarded all the gold but I poured money like water on my projects, with roads and new fleet for all to see and also increasing employment.

They said the Highborn didn't care about anyone else. But Jeyne used Casterly Rock's gold to build septs and orphanages not only in Lannisport but also in the lands surrounding Casterly Rock and Marbrand lands.

They said that Lords taxed them unjustly but I had removed a lot of unnecessary taxes levied upon poor people. Which was easy actually. It was obvious the Masters of Coin were appointed for political reasons and seeing how a lot of Lords looked down on 'counting coppers'...

In fact most of the economic reforms were done during the reigns of Jaehaerys I, Aegon III, Viserys II and Daeron II.

But back to the matter. The Westerlands were prospering, though at a slow rate. The trade had increased, the new fleet and the Western Guard gave people a sense of protection. The life of smallfolks was only going to get better and the word was spreading.

So not only was I proving them wrong but my schemes were also affecting their recruitment and plans.

The attack on Jeyne was a desperate gambit. They rightly assumed that if something were happen to Jeyne, I would become ruthless, cruel or reckless in order to get revenge and thus reinforce my cruel image.

But they failed. The people of Lannisport were especially angry at them for trying to harm their beloved Lady Jeyne.

But while I had left my father to rule and organised an army... I still had no idea where they were operating from.

So I turned towards sellswords. I knew the bandits were hiring them, though I wondered where they got the gold, so it was easy to get them in. Seeing how they already knew how to fight, it would only take some time to get an important position.

But, from what I got, the Rat was apparently in charge and was a paranoid bastard.

In the meanwhile I started improving my public image.

I visited every town and village in Westerlands that was on the map.

The people at first were scared but their fear often subsided after a while. I dispensed justice, settled disputes, talked with the person in charge and listened to people's problems.

Hells, after giving the same speech again and again I could recite it in my sleep now.

Also my tour encouraged local Lords to visit their lands and clean the house, so to speak.

Meanwhile Ser Rupert and Aubrey led the Western Guard around to make sure the terrible trio received harsh responses.

And then finally, after months, I got the word from my sellswords.

"They are hiding in one of the dried mines near the border." I said to all the occupants of the room while pointing the location in the map.

I was currently in Lord Brax's home at Hornvale.

"Aren't those the lands of House Drox, bannermen of Braxs?" Ser Rupert said snidely while looking at Lord Brax.

Flement Brax was a tall man with long grey hair and blue eyes. The former Master of Laws had a leaner build than his son and heir Wilbert, who stood beside him.

The man did not deem fit to reply to the Crakehall Knight. I knew he and the old Knight were not very fond of each other.

But his son replied, "If they know about this, they will certainly be punished."

It seemed like Ser Rupert was about to say something but I intervened before things got out of hand.

"How did we not know about this?" I asked everybody.

"Those mines have been abandoned since before the conquest, my lord. Records of them are likely lost." It was Lord Brax's maester who responded.

"Not only that but they have also apparently dug another exit, from which they can access Riveroad." Aubrey informed everyone.

"Is there any chance we can lure them out? Fighting them in the mines will be bloody." Lord Brax spoke.

"No, we can't. After the recent setbacks the Rat has apparently become paranoid. He keeps all his experienced men close." Ser Rupert answered.

I sighed as I said, " It seems we have no other choice. There is no way I am letting them-"

"Can't we just seal of the mines." All the eyes turned towards the figure beside Aubrey.

Jason looked at me with a conflicted expression.

"We can." I began before anyone else could say something. "If they are nice enough to let us choke them to death. Or maybe the Gods would be nice enough to cause a landslide."

I know I was being rude.

"Back to the matter. We will gather men in small groups in different areas. Our man in the inside was nice enough to give us the location of their watchtowers."

"I will lead the main force myself in Drox lands while Lord Brax will move through the hills with Leffords to block the other exit and cut of their retreat." I looked towards the old Lord who, by the look on his face, understood that he and I were going to have long talk about his bannerman.

"We attack at dusk in a fortnight." Seeing the assent of everybody in the room, I said, "You all may leave. Jason, stay behind."

The moment everybody else had left the room Jason stood up with a determined expression and said, " Brother, I know I was out of bounds. But all of you were talking about sending men to their death so easily, I had to-"

"Sit down." I said as I moved to grab a bottle of wine. Jason shut up and sat down.

I plopped down on the chair opposite him and asked, "What do you know about the role of our family in the Battle of Wendwater."

"Well Tion, as our elder brother, was one of the commanders. He was forced to engage the enemy flank but he died. You then led the men against the Blackfyres' forces and killed Bittersteel." He rattled off.

"That version is full of shit." I told him as he spluttered.

"Tion and I were too inexperienced to be given a meaningful command, so we were told to stay put, wait for the battle to end and to cut down tired and beaten men when they would try to escape." I told him as I poured myself some wine.

"But Tion, in his infinite wisdom, decided to ignore this and charge into the enemy flank, leaving me no choice but to follow him." I took a sip of the wine while Jason looked at me with wide eyes.

"Without that, the casualties of the battle would have been at most a hundred. But in the end I lead nearly 200 men to their death. And that haunted me for more than a while."

I licked my lips and said something cringe worthy that I had always wanted to say.

"With Great power come great Responsibility."

"Being a noble gives you great power but even your smallest decision can affect the lives of hundreds or thousands of people. Your one mistake could lead to the death of all those under you. That is one thing most noble don't realise."

"And that is something we must get used to."

I drank the rest of wine in one big sip and got up.

"Unlike me you don't have a reputation to uphold, nor do you have to prove yourself to a bunch of old men. So you don't have to be there if you are not fine with it"

I patted his shoulder, leaving the room with Jason deep in his thoughts.


	22. Going Mining

Jason's words still rang through my head. After all, they were indeed true.

I could just seal the mines. The Rat and his people would die like the pests they were.

But i did not want to take a chance. I wanted to be sure i get him. Also another reason was that i wanted to find out who has been helping him. Especially with the gold. While i am sure they got enough to feed themselves by robbing people on the roads, though that had gotten lesser with the formation of Western Guard, there is no way they could afford to hire so many sellswords.

So, i wanted him alive. The original Tytos or even me, when i came into this world would have been horrified at this way of thinking. He would have cursed me and called me a monster. And maybe i was or maybe not.

But they had not fought a war, they had not seen hundreds of men die in front of their very own eyes. They were not forced to fight for their life against a man who had fought more battles than i had lived years just to prove themselves. They did not fight battles knowing defeat would mean their death and death of those who they loved.

But still even if i was ready to fight in the mines, it doesn't mean i will. I am not stupid, i know this very well could be trap set for me.

But before that we had to make sure that Rat and his cronies were not aware of our arrival. The few sellswords i had on inside all had provided me with locations that the rebels used to keep watch. This included several tree houses along the road or in the forest. I had my men attack all these locations simultaneously. And after a 'quick chat' we found out that the abandoned mines were indeed the location and Rat himself was there.

I also made sure to avoid villages and roads. Which was easier said than done.

But still the day arrived or well the night arrived.

Our scouts had also confirmed the location.

" Everything is ready, my Lord." came the voice of Addam Hill beside me. The Bastard of Feastfires was one of the Knights who had leapt to join the Western Guard in a bid to make a name for themself. By all accounts he was a decent person who was good with a mace.

We were currently hiding in the woods overlooking the entrance of the mine which were about to attack. As agreed Lord Brax had led some 500 men through the Eastern hills to the other side of the mine. If the rider sent by him was right he should be in position. I had given him more than enough time.

"Well the lead the men, Ser Addam." I said.

My own host which had around 600 men was divided in several groups sprawled around the Forest

The Knight nodded and signalled around a dozen men to follow him. I saw them sneakily make their way to the mine and enter it. It was followed by sound of steel clashing but it got quiet quickly. One man in a got out of the mine. I let out a breath When i saw that he was wearing a crimson cloak and he signalled towards our direction that they are going in.

Now came the most dreading part, the waiting.

The plan was rather simple. These men were going to meet our friends on the inside and locate the armoury. Once they hold the armoury, they are going to start a few fires so that we can smoke them out.

I had no idea how much time had passed as i watched them take their positions.

But soon our patience was rewarded as i saw people coming out of the mines. They started gathering around the mouth of the mine. I waited for a while as i saw more and more men coming out. Only a handful were armed. When it looked like no more people were coming out i sounded the horn.

Most of the Bandits were startled as they saw when they saw armoured men coming out the woods.

The vanguard which consisted solely of calvary scattered all of them. The infantry which followed the vanguard crushed. A few brave ones had tried to put up a fight. Their death only encouraged the rest to surrender.

Aubrey came towards and said,"This must be at least half of them. And more than few should have been dealt by Lord Brax."

"Is he among these men?" I asked Aubrey sharply and was disappointed when he shook his head in denial.

"Hopefully Lord Brax got him. But anyway gather some men. I will take some men to look through the mines to make sure we miss nothing" I said.

A runner was sent inside the mines hoping to find Ser Addam and his men.

By the time men were assembled for me to lead, a lot of smoke had been blown away with the wind and it seemed like the fire had been dealt with allowing us to move in the mines easily.

It was obvious that most of the men had rushed outside, some of them had even left their clothes behind.

"Be wary of any ambushes." I warned the men with me.

I tried not to focus too much on the fact that most of them had made column around me intent on making sure that no harm comes to me.

It was good thing that i had warned them because just at the entrance of next corridor a shout got our attention.

I looked sideways and saw and handful of armed men charging at us.

None of them was armoured. One of them had a spear while rest either had knife or nothing at all. My guards of course easily handled them. That was also not the last time we were ambushed.

We found Ser Addam and his men soon and they joined our group. So we proceeded to clean out rest of the mine.

And then we found prisoners. Lots and lots of prisoners. Men ,Women and children of all ages. And all of them were related to someone of importance. Whether it be brother of some landed Knight, Wife of Captain of Guards of some minor lord or Grandchildren of a rich trader from Lannisport. All of them held against their will so that their loved ones could be blackmailed for money or favours, it didn't matter.

As i was ordering some of my guards to take all the common people to safety, I saw armoured men wearing Brax colours coming towards us. After saluting me, they told me that Lord Flement had found something and he requested my presence.

I followed the man with my guards as he led me to the place where Lord Brax was. We found him in a room which appeared to be bedroom combined with an office.

Lord Brax nodded respectfully when i entered and motioned towards the man sitting on the chair.

Or to be exact dead man on the chair. And how did i know that? His pale skin, rolled eyes, limp body and the fact that he was not breathing led me to that conclusion.

"He poisoned himself. Probably the moment he learned that they were under attack. He likely knew that there was no escape and that he would not have an easy death if captured alive." The Lord of Hornvale's words only conformed what was on my mind.

On further inspection of the room i noticed a burned book and ashes.

"Only after he destroyed everything which could have led us to his allies." I spoke through gritted teeth.

Oh I was angry. Very angry. All this led to nothing. I was no closer to finding more about the Rat, The Hawk and The Pig. And my mood only got worse as Aubrey bought me the information that the dead man was not person i was looking for. That he was in not the rat.

"The dead man's name is apparently Ser Harris. It seems he was indeed the original leader and the one who was responsible for leading these men until around fifteen moons ago." Which was the time i announced the formation of Western Guard.

" After another man came and took command and this Ser Harris had no trouble following his orders. We also learned that only half of these men are from Westerlands. The other half were came with the new commander. Most of these men hail from Riverlands and Reach with an odd Crownlander between them." Aubrey continued.

"And pray tell, where is this commander?" I asked him.

"He knew we were coming." And that brought a halt to my thoughts.

"But he didn't know when. They were planning on abandoning this mine soon and he apparently left to scout the location of their new base."

" And this was the man who ordered the attack on Jeyne?" I questioned the heir of Silverhill.

"It seems so. He is the man they all call the Rat after all." The Knight answered me.

"There is also one other thing." spoke Ser Rupert who had remained silent till now.

I looked toward him with a raised eyebrow.

"While most of these men are small folk, there are some men here who fought at Wendewater and not only that there are also a couple of Veterans from the Third Blackfyre Rebellion and Peake Uprising."

And that did nothing to decrease my worry.

Soon after that both men left me with my thoughts. While i was still sore over not getting the Rat, one thing was sure there would be no more bandit attacks in Westernlands for foreseeable future. Not only we had captured or killed most of these Bandits but we also had gotten hand on all their gold. Around 4200 silver stags and 300 silver moon, not counting all the copper coins. Around 30 gold dragons then, which while pocket change for a Lannister was a rather considerable amount.

While i was sure some this was extorted from the families of their prisoners or looted, they probably had another source of income. All this had only increased the number of questions with giving any answer.

But i got the feeling this won't be the last time Rat troubles me. And i was sure this was not over. Not by a long shot.

* * *

**This chapter was not beta'ed, so apologies for grammar or any other mistakes. Also I am not dead, and no excuse. Hopefully next chapter will not take more than 7 months.**

**Also hope that everyone is taking necessary precautions in these troubling times and all of you are safe**


	23. Chapter 23

**Thanks to ****Preier**** for Beta reading this chapter.**

After my adventure in the mines, things returned to normal or as normal as they could be. Without the constant threat of bandit attack hanging over our heads and hoping the increase the morale of people, my father had decided to throw a tourney upon my return as a way of showing people that the Lannisters still stood strong.

Also, another cause for celebration was that Brightroar was officially returned to House Lannister. The cover story was one of my father's cousins journeyed as near as he could to the Ruins of Valyria. There he found the shipwreck of King Tommen II Lannister's ship which never made it to Valyria.

The man in question is about my father's age, with no family of his own. He happily agreed to take credit in exchange for spending the rest of his life in a luxurious mansion in Lannisport with Red Cloaks guarding him. For his safety.

As for the crew? He would claim to have hired them in Essos and that none came back to Westeros with him.

The whole nobility of the West was invited to the Tourney, along with important houses from neighboring realms. This was going to be a rather big and particularly expensive affair. The winner of the Joust was going to get 5000 gold dragons while the runner-up gets 2500 gold dragons and the winner of the melee will also get the same amount while 1000 golden dragons were allotted to the winner of the Archery competition. All in all the whole Tourney was going to cost around 20000 gold dragons.

The prizes, while not as high as they were in the Hand's Tourney from the books, were still rather significant. If Robert Baratheon held tourneys like that every year it was no surprise that he left the Kingdoms in debt.

But, back on topic, another reason this Tourney was important was because it was going to be the first one held by that the Lannisters in nearly more than a decade. And in that time the Lady of Casterly Rock had disappeared, both eldest sons of the Warden of West died, the second-strongest house in the West rose in rebellion then got crushed, and we nearly had a smallfolk rebellion. So some appearances needed to be maintained.

"You are still not done?" my wife asked me as she entered my solar.

"I will be, soon," I said while glaring at the pile of papers in front of me.

Paperwork is truly the bane of existence for all those in power. While most of these documents only required my seal I still had to go through all of them. My father never had to deal with this much paperwork. In a way, it was my fault.

The personal demesne of Lord of Casterly Rock had doubled in the past decade. The Lannisters of Lannisport had ruled not only over the city but also most of its surrounding lands. All of whom now owed their fealty to Casterly Rock. And while a good chunk of the lands previously ruled by the Reynes had been divided among loyal bannermen, Castamere and all of its surrounding lands were now governed directly by the Warden of West.

"Ahem." I looked towards Jeyne, who was now sitting in front and me. She looked rather amused by the way I was glaring at all these reports.

"The Maester was on his way to you when I met with him. A raven came. The Crakehalls will arrive in two days and they are not coming alone." Jeyne spoke.

I leaned back taking a well-earned break as I replied, " Let me guess. The Rowans, Cranes, and Oakharts decided to accept my invitation."

The relationship between Lannisters and Rowans was not good, to be frank. It has not been good since my dear brother decided to break his betrothal with Lord Nestor Rowan's daughter, who was also the niece of current Lord Oakhart and the same girl who later married the current Lord Crane.

This meant that most of North-Western Reach was not a big fan of my family. They showed that by levying high tolls on all the goods that came from the Westerlands by land. While these tolls were not high enough to cause a major problem, they were still troublesome.

"So how do you plan to deal with them?" Jeyne asked.

"Oh you know, the usual. Sharing some pleasantries, bribing them with expensive gifts, and buttering them. And then I will remind them that Tion is dead and the Reynes are gone, and it is far past time that this petty little feud ends."

"And what if they still don't change their mind."

"They will." my words left no room for more questions. I shuffled through papers on my desk until I came upon what I was looking for.

"And they are not going to be the only unexpected guests," I told Jeyne as I passed her the letter.

"The invitation sent to him was just a courtesy. You said that it was unlikely that he would come." She said after reading the letter.

"I thought so. I wonder what made him accept?" After all we had no formal alliance with the Tullys right now and neither were Lord Paramounts as connected to each other as they were by the time of Robert's Rebellion.

"Isn't his heir the same age as Cerenna? Do you think that is the reason he is coming here?" Jeyne wondered.

" No. From what I have heard he is planning on betrothing his heir to Lord Whent's daughter. The Tullys need a foothold in Eastern Riverlands. Especially after recent events."

" Maybe he just wants better relations," Jeyne said

But I had this feeling it was about much more than that.

_( SCENE BREAK )_

The Tourney has been going surprisingly smoothly so far. Jeyne had done great work in planning all this.

Like I had said all the nobility of the West was present. So must of my time was spent mingling with my future bannermen seeing as I did not participate in any of the events. While I was decent with a sword and on a horse, I did not fancy my chances in either Tourney or Melee. I had a feeling that seeing their future Lord Paramount biting the dust might not inspire confidence among my future vassals.

Also since I was known as the Slayer of Bittersteel, I did not need to prove my martial ability so I played that card whenever someone questioned me on why I wasn't participating.

The way my father and I were working together to solve any problems they brought to our attention also dispelled most of the rumors of me usurping him or keeping him captive. The Rowans and their friends were dealt with on the first day of the Tourney. Jeyne spent some time with them, complimenting them and then bribing them with some expensive gifts like jewelry for women and armors for men. Of course she made a passing remark about Ellyn and how neither she nor I got along well with her.

Then I came and talked with the Lords and in the end we all agreed to let bygones be bygones and acquiesced to a much more reasonable toll rate.

Brightroar, in its scabbard, was currently located on my left hip. The announcement of its return had caused quite a bit of excitement but thankfully everyone believed the story about its return.

Today was going to be the last day of Tourney and I was currently walking the grounds with my unexpected guest.

Lucas Tully stood a five foot ten with shoulder-length auburn hair and with dark blue eyes. A few years my elder he seemed like a jovial man with an easygoing attitude. But that did not change the fact that the man was probably one of the most cut-throat politicians of Westeros.

"And while I agree that your former squire has done an admirable job for his first Tourney, I don't think he will make it to finals." The Lord of Riverrun was saying.

"While Gerold Hightower is a formidable opponent, I won't count Adrian out just yet," I said.

And wasn't that a shock. Yes, I was indeed talking about that Gerold Hightower, The White Bull. Though he was not a Kingsguard right now but a young knight trying to make a name for himself. He was representing his older brother, Lord Damon Hightower, and had already won the Melee.

"While I enjoy talking to you, Lord Lucas, I don't think you came all this way for a trade deal," I said, finally getting to the point.

The mentioned trade deal was that instead of sending goods around Westeros, the Tullys would transport these goods through Tumbleton and the Red Fork to Saltpans through barges. It was a beneficial deal but I could not overlook the fact that he was going to use this deal to attract trade to Saltpans and away from Maidenpool and the Mootons.

The politics of Riverlands was a can of worms I did not want to open. It had been the same story since the Conquest. Every few decades one of the Riverlords would start gathering influence and questioning the Tully's authority, thinking they were more deserving of the title of Lord Paramount of Trident.

Sometime it would be the Mootons, the richest house in Riverlands, others maybe the Darrys, who ruled over one of the most fertile lands in the Seven Kingdoms, or the Strongs, who had the Royal Favour, and so on.

For the past few decades, it had been the Blackwoods. When most adult male Tullys died during the Great Spring Sickness, the Blackwoods did not hesitate to use their relationship with the new Hand of the King Brynden Waters, a Blackwood bastard, to become Regents for eight-year-old Steffon Tully.

It was well known back then that when Steffon Tully came of age, he would be married to a Blackwood. But alas, at the age of five and ten, he impregnated the daughter of Lord Piper and married her. And since the betrothal between him and Blackwoods was never made official, there was nothing Lord of Raventree hall could do.

But there was another twist.

At the age of eight and ten, Steffon Tully died during the Third Blackfyre Rebellion leaving behind his three-year-old son Lucas and six months old daughter Celia.

Due to the return of Maekar Targaryen to the Red Keep, who had not been to King's Landing since his brother's coronation, Bloodraven could no longer afford to favor his Blackwood kin so openly. After all, if there was anyone who could complain to King Aerys about his Hand and make him do something about it was his brother.

So the Blackwoods could not get the Regency again but it didn't stop them from gathering as much power as they could while the Mootons and Darrys did the same. And, for the next twelve-year, the Riverlands had four overlords.

But then Lucas Tully happened. I genuinely believe Littlefinger found his journal or diary because the man used chaos to keep his vassals in line. He made sure all of them were so busy quarreling with each other that they had no time to plot against their Liege Lord. Case in point, the Mootons and Darrys had been at each other's throat for the past few years.

The Blackwoods were isolated, as the Mallisters, Rygers, Vances, and Bracken got closer to Tullys. All these Lords ruled over lands surrounding the demesne of Blackwoods.

That all had changed recently.

Upon hearing my word, the Lord Paramount of Trident stilled for a moment before he fished out a document from his doublet.

"I heard that you had a pest problem, I thought this would help." He said as he handed me that paper.

I carefully looked over the papers, trying to hide my frown as I went over its contents.

"This could be nothing," I said after going through it for the third time.

"Or it could be a solution to your problem." The auburn-haired man said with a grin. I did not like that grin.

"Do not pretend that you are doing me a favor, Lord Tully. You have as much reason to hate these so-called bandits as me. Didn't Lord Blackwood publicly question your abilities to deal with them in front of the King." I told him.

The Rat, The Hawk, and The Pig had destroyed much of Tully's work. The Darrys and Mootons had stopped fighting to deal with them together while the Blackwoods managed to gather some like-minded Lords and rushed to King's Landing to complain about their Liege Lord.

The father of Hoster Tully looked at me in anger before he sighed and said, "Aye, they have given me plenty of a headache. That upjumped bastard Blackwood did not help. There were even rumors that Targaryen was thinking about giving Blackwood command to deal with these pests," He nearly spat the name 'Targaryen'

Though I do admit he had a good reason to be not fond of the Royal family. When the children of Aegon broke their betrothals, the Baratheons were given a royal bride in recompense while the Tyrells got a royal squire. Meanwhile the Tullys only received a half-hearted apology.

"I don't think His Grace would have done it." I didn't.

"Mayhaps not, but didn't King Aegon do the same to your father when the Reynes rebelled. He did not back the same Lord Paramount who had helped him get the Iron throne. Tell me, How many Lords were bribed with Lannister gold during the Great Council? If he did that to your father, why would he spare me." He replied.

And then his voice got low as he said, "You Lannisters are always going on and on about paying your debts. I wonder, when will you pay back your debts to House Targaryen?" And with that he stormed off, leaving me with my thoughts.

**Glad that this didn't take 7 months. Thanks for reading.**


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